The Voyage of the Queen Marie

We set out on the Queen Marie Full of rum and gold To do what we'd been told Bring back pieces of the sun And with the main sail set on high The wind blew from the starboard side We mumbled forth on waters mild And sailed into the sun After fifteen months at sea There was just the cook and me Counting out the gold And drinking all the rum After nineteen months at sea There was just the ship and me Counting out my gold And dreaming of the sun "Oh have courage!" I did shout Pointing to the land In the afternoon An island made of sun And with a casket laid with gold To the shallow shores I rowed As people gathered in the glow Shining like the sun And there they held me to the sky Carried like the cross of Christ Burning gold upon my eyes And raised me to the sun And as the furnace closed around All the drowning and the drowned There the Queen Marie went down In pieces of the sun A million souls lit up the night Golden fireflies in flight Drifting up and out of sight And swallowed by the sun A million years fell by as one As every father to his son Gave his heart and returned home To the caverns of the sun