Underture

(album: The Wake Of Magellan - 1997)

EACH MAN HAS A SOUL
THAT STRUGGLES TO ESCAPE
AND IN THE SHALLOWS OF HIS DREAMS
WE CAN OFTEN SEE ITS WAKE

FOR WE ALL HAVE OUR SECRETS
THAT WE ALL KEEP DEEP INSIDE
AWAY FROM LIGHT, IN DARKEST NIGHT
WHERE IT'S ALWAYS SAFE TO HIDE

AWAY FROM ALL THAT WE SHOULD MEET
LESS SOMEONE ELSE SHOULD SHARE
THAT THING THAT HIDES INSIDE OUR SOUL
THAT WE PRAY WAS NEVER THERE

AND OUT UPON THAT OCEAN
A LIFETIME FROM THE SHORE
MIGUEL STOOD HIS NIGHT WATCH
RECALLING EVERYTHING HE SAW

FOR HE WAS A DECKHAND

ABOARD THE "MAERSK DUBAI"
HE HAD SAILED HER ROUND THE WORLD
FROM HAMBURG TO SENDAI

BUT THIS TRIP HAD BEEN DIFFERENT
MORE THAN ANY HE HAD KNOWN
FOR ON BOARD THERE WAS AN EVIL
AND THE EVIL HAD BEEN SHOWN

FOR HALFWAY THROUGH THIS VOYAGE
THEY HAD FOUND TWO STOWAWAYS
THAT THE CAPTAIN HAD THROWN IN THE SEA
AND LEFT THEM TO THE WAVES

AND WHEN HE TRIED TO CLOSE HIS EYES

AND PRETEND HE DID NOT KNOW
THE EVIL DID NOT GO AWAY
BUT USED THE TIME TO GROW

FOR LATER ON THAT SAME TRIP
THEY FOUND A STOWAWAY ONCE AGAIN
BUT THE CAPTAIN SOON MET THIS ONE TOO
AND BROUGHT HIM TO THE SAME COLD END

HE WONDERED WHAT THAT BOY THOUGHT INSIDE
BEFORE THAT FINAL SLEEP
WHEN WATER WAS ALL THAT WAS AROUND
AND HIS LUNGS HAD SCREAMED BREATHE DEEP

HE WONDERED WHAT WENT THROUGH HIS MIND
AS HE GASPED FOR AIR
AND THE LAST MOMENT WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HELP
TO FIND NOBODY THERE

HE WONDERED TO HIMSELF
IF HE COULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE
TO STAND UP AT THAT MOMENT

AND SAY THIS CANNOT BE DONE

TO STAND UP TO THE CAPTAIN
AND SAY THIS THING IT CANNOT BE
BUT THERE IS NOTHING CLOSER TO GOD ON EARTH
THAN A CAPTAIN ON THE SEA

AND HE WAS JUST A DECKHAND
WITH NO RIGHT TO PLEAD THE CASE
OF THIS STRANGER IN THEIR MIDST
AND SO HE KEPT HIS PLACE

AND WHAT IS DONE IS DONE
AND UNDONE CANNOT BE
AND SO HE PUSHED IT FROM HIS MIND

AND STARED OUT ACROSS THE SEA