The Great Elsewhere

F
Talking
Dm
What's it good for?
C          Am
Absolutely nothing
F
Wrestle
Dm
Let's wrestle
C              Am
You can pin me to anything


F                 Dm
Thought I saw you in my tea leaves
C                 Am
Thought I saw you in a forest flame
F            Dm          C      
I'll fill up the silence with 
           Am
the sound of your holy name
F                          Dm
Knowledge of the sea-ways, knowledge
 of how the water flows
C                         Am
Whoever coined the phrase has never 
had to brave the snow
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F                                 
I climbed the shroud to the 
      Dm
top-sail and I peeked through the 
glass
 C                               
The curvature bisected by the wintry
Am
 mizzen mast

F                                 
The scar upon my stomach, I call 
   Dm
it my Flying V
C                                 
And every time I show it I can 
      Am
feel your eyes on me
F                                 
How many islands will surrender to
   Dm
 the blunderbuss?
C                                 
And how long must we sail before 
        Am
you show your face to us?

F
Followed him out to the end of the 
pier
Dm                                 
"Don't come any closer," he cried, 
C
"I am afraid
          C
Of the man I'll become if I lay my
Am
Life down for a people that I don't 
even care for."
F
Face to his face, I put my
      Dm
Hand into his and I tried to tell 
him, "No,
C
I've seen his work upon the panes of
 cathedrals,
Am
In the sweat of the workers and the 
flight of the seagulls."

F
My words were drowned out by the 
sound
               Dm
Of the motors and rowers, the ship 
as it ran aground
C
And from the trees came a thousand 
soldiers.
Am
I went down on my knees with a spear
 in my shoulder.
F
About face, about face, I swam back
Dm
To the Victoria. I shiver with the
C
Memory, memory of the island 
dwellers
Am
And the indifferences of the 
Storyteller.