Miles Off Course

Bodies stacked like timbers Foundered on the rocks Some hundred lives lost They weren't local sailors Far away from home Lost beneath the foam They didn't know these waters January cold Flood the third hold We watched those foreign soldiers Taken by the tide A fraction made it out alive I know it's hard But we must be kept apart Cut off by the tide The rocks The reef The beach The mines The sharpest shards Breached the hull, the lungs, the heart From the lighthouse on the reach To the bottom of the sea Miles off course Miles off course Oh I saw those timbers Piled up on the pier Somewhere over there Seagulls cried and lingered More washed up on the sand I squeezed my father's hand He said they had it coming Some people never learn They got what they deserved I dreamed of wild adventures Just William, Boy's Own Not these bloated bags of bones I know it's hard But we must be kept apart Cut off by the tide The rocks The reef The beach The mines The sharpest shards Breached the hull, the lungs, the heart From the lighthouse on the reach To the bottom of the sea Miles off course Miles off course You can hear them singing Lili Marleen Across the sea While the wireless plays out that exact same song To you and me And if I was honest with myself, I'd say It was hard to read From the shoreline, which fields they had fought on It wasn't clear to see And if you go wading out off Portelet And dive down sixty feet You will find an impermanent reminder Decaying in the deep Miles off course Miles off course