On The Flip Of A Coin

(album: Everything Is Borrowed - 2008)

From the point he gazed from, the choice was made
But walk the cave, or the shore?
The oily cave seemed to breathe on him from gravestone jaws
His little hand grasped in anguish as he weighed up his coin
Somewhere, a blue-eyed girl in the world is just waiting for a boy
Footprints trailed as if trod by slaves up to the grey cave floor
But not one graze from anything ever escaping this fort
So with coin on hand, his joy came back
When ordered to take the shore
"Why on earth", as he wandered the warmth
"Am I obeying this coin?"

Turn your life on the flip of this coin
Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid
And promise me you'll follow what it says
Whatever it says

Again, walk within the trusted beach, or swim the swell of the sea?
And again, the scarier alternative looked like certain death to he
He'd never learnt the skill of swimming
It never occurred to be very easy
And again, he winced as he flipped his coin
And it twirled to his feet
"How is this sane?" he blamed the coin, now aiming for the waves
As he hesitated at the swirl of water that now raged and rained
Blue-eyed girls were waiting and he was drowning in the spray
Blue-eyed girls he should be acquainted with
But for shouting and flailing

Turn your life on the flip of this coin
Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid
And promise me you'll follow what it says
Whatever it says

He finally slugs it back to land, feeling chewed-up and foolish
Empties his pockets on the sand, spewing a pool each
Staggers back to his dad, who's too cool to be
So he says, "Why did you have me follow this stupid rule, please?"
"To be honest, little fellow, I'll tell you, I was just as afraid as you
But you said you wanted to get with people and places ever new
And I got a bit scared about the fate of my baby son's future
So I invented a reason to see whether you could ever make do
As soon as you appeared behind that rock, looking angry at me
I soon realised what a hell of a man you've ended up being
I knew you'd worked out how to swim, which I hadn't had in me
And I stand as a companion of you, proudest a man has ever been"

Turn your life on the flip of this coin
Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid
And promise me you'll follow what it says
Whatever it says