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                 Am
I'll fill up the silence with 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
Continues after the ad
F                                       Dm
I climbed the shroud to the top-sail and I peeked through the glass
 C                               Am
The curvature bisected by the wintry mizzen mast

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

F
Followed him out to the end of the pier
Dm                                 C
"Don't come any closer," he cried, "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.