The Dutchman

The Dutchman's not the kind of man To keep his thumb jammed in the dam That holds his dreams in But that's a secret only Margaret knows When Amsterdam is golden in the morning Margaret brings him breakfast She believes him He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snows He's mad as he can be But Margaret only sees that sometimes She often sees her unborn children In his eyes Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes His cap and coat are patched with the love That Margaret sewed in Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam He watches tug boats down canals And calls out to them When he thinks he knows the captain Then Margaret comes to take him home again Through unforgiving streets A tripping though she holds his arm Sometimes he thinks that he's alone And he calls her name Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me The windmills swirl the winter air She winds his muffler tighter They sit in the kitchen And some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew He sees her for a moment, calls her name She makes his bed up Singing some old love song A song she learned when it was very new She sings a line or two They hum together in the night The Dutchman falls asleep And Margaret blows the candle out Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me