Lyrics from One...
Jebah Brown
My name is Jebah Brown and I come from Mystic town.
I spent all my life chasing whales.
In Mystic I was born, though I've been around the Horn
Where the cold wind can tear up a sail.
The last trip we sailed, we ran into a gale;
The ballast it shifted about.
Then a rock hit the side and the planks they opened wide;
I thought that my time had run out.
And we all sail away in the wind and the spray;
Trust in God and the weather about.
We haul on the sails as we follow the whales
With a taste of the salt in our mouths.
Well the ship she went down and the good crew they drowned;
I clung to a piece of the mast.
And the night followed day and the days they passed away;
I wondered how long I could last.
And we all sail away in the wind and the spray, etc.
I prayed for my Jenny girl;
I prayed for my life;
I prayed to be with her again;
My own darling wife.
I prayed for a miracle
On the seventh day.
I prayed to the darkness below;
My soul I would trade.
It was on the seventh night I saw the strangest light
Come over the sea from the South.
It was shaped like a bell, Lord it flew straight from hell:
I remembered the prayer from my mouth.
Well they took me inside, and they took me for a ride
Through the heavens, through hell and back again.
Then they dropped me on the shore; I was safe at home once more.
I ran to my sweet darling Jen.
And we all sail away in the wind and the spray, etc.
Well I don't really know if I traded my soul,
Traded my soul for my life.
My Jenny moved away and with her family stays:
She won't be the Devil's Mate's Wife!
And we all sail away in the wind and the spray, etc.
On the Border
Sinking in a daydream as the chords fall from a sweet guitar,
Dreaming songs that make me sigh.
The sea breeze that surrounds me whispers softly tells us where we are;
Makes me feel alright.
On the border of the water, sky and the ocean sand,
We sit together side by side.
Then in a while, the edges fade into white and tan;
It feels so right.
Dreaming is believing, drifting back as the music plays;
The sun warms your senses; close your eyes.
Sounds of the guitar, of the wind and the ocean spray,
And the sea birds' haunting cries.
On the border, etc.
Back from the water, your hair flows down along your skin
Past your shoulders, summer browned.
Arms reaching out pull me back where it all begins;
I awaken and I drown.
On the border, etc.
Seed Dreams
Come see how we stand
At the edge of a shadow that yawns,
And swallows the dawn, swallows the dawn.
Our glimpse of a springtide
Through eyes that as yet are unborn,
Now from us is torn, from us is torn.
Seed dreams still haunt me --
Futures that won't be
Slip past the Snow Keep again.
The wind wails behind me;
The sun yet unwinds me;
The Cycle still calls unto them.
A perceiver of patterns,
My fear of the frost was allayed,
As was the fear of the blade, the fire and the blade.
The prayer and the promise
Grown dim at the dusking of day
Now fade away, the words fade away.
Seed dreams still haunt me --
Futures that won't be
Slip past the Snow Keep again.
The wind wails behind me;
The sun yet unwinds me;
The Cycle still calls unto them.
Can the winds of a spent world
Yet whisper of flourishing ways
In meadows of May, meads of the May?
A singer in season
I'll sing you no sweet lover's lay
To brighten this day, this dusking of day.