From the recording Blue Water
Sometimes things happen in life that change everything overnight. The true story of a young girl, around seven years old, from the island nation of Kiribati (formerly the Gilbert and Ellis Islands) in the South Pacific. I came across the underlying story in J. Maarten Troost’s delightful travelogue “Sex Lives of Cannibals”.
Lyrics
It was just another day; we played like dolphins on the waves
My friends and I.
Well I laid back and closed my eyes and let the current carry me
But when I looked again
I found that it had borne me out to sea
I could not swim the falling tide; I shouted, no one heard my call
No-one at all
Swept out beyond the coral gates that guard my family’s island home
I was alone
Beyond the foaming breakers all alone
Chorus:
I was alone upon the sea; I was alone under the sky
I was alone with all my dreams and that hard question: “Why?”
And when the sun fell in the west and the stars began to shine
It was so beautiful, so beautiful it made me cry
Then it was just another day; I sang the songs my mother sang
Counted the birds
I told the stories that I knew; imagined castles in the clouds
Invented words
Invented worlds where my stories might be heard
Floating on a gentle swell, beneath a kind, forgiving sun
I came undone
What was water, what was me, I didn’t know, I didn’t care
As I lay there
With tiny blue and scarlet fishes in my hair
I was alone upon the sea; I was alone under the sky
I was alone with all my dreams and that hard question: “Why?”
And when the sun fell in the west and the stars began to shine
It was so beautiful, so beautiful I had to cry
So I laid back and closed my eyes, I knew this had to be the end
I was so tired
The ocean always has its way, still I looked one last time out across the sea
There was a sail
There was a sail and it was sailing after me
I found my family in the church. They’d gathered there to let me go
How could they know?
Was I a ghost or heaven’s child? They were not certain, nor was I
Something had changed
Changed in ways that I will never understand
I hold this water in my hand, the way the water once held me
It let me go,
Still after all this time I am not free
I’m still alone upon the sea, I’m still alone under the sky
I’m still alone with all my dreams and I still wonder, “Why?”
And when the sun falls in the west and the stars begin to shine
It’s still so beautiful, so beautiful I have to cry
It was just another day, we played like dolphins on the waves