The Dutchman

(album: Hill Country Rain - 1992)

The Dutchman is not the kind of man
To keep his thumb jammed in a dam that holds his dreams in
But that's a secret only Margaret knows

When Amsterdam is golden
In the morning Margaret brings him breakfast. She believes him
He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow
He's mad as he can be, but Margaret only sees that sometimes
Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes

Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes
His hat and coat are patched with the love that Margaret sewed him
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam
He watches tugboats down canals
And calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain
Till Margaret comes to take him home again
Through unforgiving streets that trip him though he holds her arm
Sometimes he thinks that he's alone and calls her name

The windmills whirl the winter wind
She winds his muffler tighter
They sit in the kitchen
Some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew
He sees her for a moment
He calls her name out
She makes the bed up, humming some old love song
She learned the tune when it was very new
He hums a line or two
They hum together in the dark
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out