Fishing Net In The Rain

I'm a sailor in the RAN, I'm a stoker by my trade

I've been to many places, for a boy from Adelaide

Learned all the things at sea, that a sailor needs to know

Like coming up alongside, casting off and letting go

Everything's a cheerless gray, the ship, the sea, the sky

And it's hard to steer a steady course, between the truth and lies

There are orders, and there are principles, these things that we hold dear

And how you choose between them, well, it really isn't clear

And one too many weeks away, with the ocean all around

I couldn't get my bearings, and our marriage ran aground

When the words had all been spoken, there was nothing left to say

So, I'm standing here in the morning light with this fishing net in the rain

As we pulled out of Darwin, there were rumors on the breeze

Something big was happening in the Arafura sea

And once at sea our comms were cut, so no one else would know

About the human tide of misery, with nowhere else to go

There were things I heard and things I saw, tore my soul apart

I guess it was the kids, who ran the daggers through my heart

I close my eyes and squeeze them hard, but the pictures still remain

There's a tightness in my chest, that I can never quite explain

As the years go by, these whispering ghosts keep drifting through the night

Whispering tales of madness, 'til the early morning light

So I fill in forms for doctors, but the answers are the same

"Just go outside," they say, and hold this fishing net

And I would have done whatever it took if they'd only help me stay

They just left me stranded here with this fishing net in the rain

When there's are no stars left in your nighttime sky, it's hard to find your way

And you can find yourself just drifting in the wind and the waves and the spray

I'll always be there with you when you look up in the sky

On a windswept beach in the morning light where the seabirds wheel and cry

May the seas you sail be gentle, may your skies be clear and blue

May the wind be at your back, and may your shipmates stand by you

Sometimes you'll catch the answers, sometimes they'll slip away

You'll be standing there in the morning light with a fishing net in the rain

When there's no stars left in your nighttime sky, it's hard to find your way

And I'll always be there with you when you look up in the sky

On a windswept beach in the morning light where the seabirds wheel and cry

Sometimes you'll catch the answers, sometimes they'll slip away

When there's no stars left in your nighttime sky, it's hard to find your way