[Verse 1]
Moon on the water
Looks like a flare in the sky
Bottle rolls sideways
Maps curl and crack where they lie
Names in the wood grain
Carved by a trembling knife
Gunmetal ghosts on the tide
Trail every wake of this life
[Chorus]
So I sail
I sail
But the salt’s in the wounds
Not the sea
Every wave
Every gale
Drags the dead from the dark back to me
I keep running from the shore
But the war keeps filling up these sails
I can’t tell the storm
From the sound of my own betrayal
[Verse 2]
Smoke in the cabin
Though nothing’s lit but a lamp
Hear distant shouting
Just rigging ropes in the damp
Hands on the railing
Knuckles like bone-white flags
Praying the ocean
Will scrape off these rusted tags
[Chorus]
So I sail
I sail
But the salt’s in the wounds
Not the sea
Every wave
Every gale
Drags the dead from the dark back to me
I keep running from the shore
But the war keeps filling up these sails
I can’t tell the storm
From the sound of my own betrayal
[Bridge]
[Strings rise
Drums rumble softly]
If I slip beneath
Will the water wash their faces clean?
Or will they open their eyes
Waiting for me?
Whispered orders in the deep
Telling me which way to bleed
And I’m so tired
Of coming home in my sleep (oh God)
[Chorus]
So I sail
I sail
But the salt’s in the wounds
Not the sea
Every wave
Every gale
Drags the dead from the dark back to me
I keep running from the shore
But the war keeps filling up these sails
Only way to break free
Is to vanish where the black tide fails
[Outro]
[Everything drops to piano and low vocal]
Moon on the water
Fades into black on black
If the sea forgets my name
Maybe I won’t get it back