Testo Wreck (a sea shanty) Marty Willson-Piper

Wreck (a sea shanty)

There's a twisted piece of jagged metal
A broken show and a rusting kettle
A bed of sand in which to lie
A clear blue sea in which to die
And as the breath slips from your lungs
There's no more words on your swollen tongue
And fishes pick your melting flesh
Living on your recent death
Dawn has promised you your dreams
And mentioned not your unheard screams
Set your course in your sky blue boat
You couldn't guess you wouldn't float
Who could sink such pretty craft
You jeered and rolled and shrugged and laughed
How vicious can a colored reef
Bear its sharp and yellow teeth
Too beautiful day to die
Too memorable to be forgotten
A sea of tears to wave goodbye
A silent wreck to haunt the bottom
The ripples whimper on the surface
Jellyfish, transparent purses
Their sting the strength of hoarded gold
The gifts they'd buy remain unsold
So what's the worth of the dead's desires
When waterlogged are life's cold fires
With seaweed hair and barnacle bones
In the powerless court on a seashell throne
Back on land your loves ones' wait
For news that saunters in too late
Their salty tears mix with the sea
As they wait for all eternity
And later all that is recovered
A defiant ring that graced your lover
But to the sea now he is wed
In a ceremony of the dead