Only To Be Opened By Sophie
Lyrics
Dear Sophie,
I write you because my thoughts are always with you
though my heart sinks ever lower each passing hour
It's a lonely job upon the careless sea, and I swear
sometimes I hear it calling me
It whispers threats in my ears, holds my throat with its fingers,
shows me what makes hell look like a pretty flame
I write this now to warn you that I might leave without you
the sea can be a bitter foe this month
The tricks it plays on my mind when the fog surrounds in the dim light
has brought me to my knees in mortal fear
I saw my father - long dead - court the stern before he said,
"come with me, I've missed you, my dear son."
I remember when I lost him, and oh the waves, how they tossed him!
And I a child no more than 12 years old
I renounced the ocean and took an oath to avenge him
but I did not understand just what that meant.
I forsook his trade for many a year and learned the life of an engineer
but it's not something you easily forsake
And, though my mother pleaded endlessly, I resigned myself to this treachery
the sorrow was too much for her sweet heart
She said the likeness that I bore to him meant she must endure it all again
When I returned she lay lifeless on the bed.
Before I left you fought with me,
and I said some things I didn't mean
I could never hope to make you understand
For all its faults and misery, this is the only life for me
though my love for you consumes me like a fire
But I know it pains you so with this I will release you
See! My father calls to me even now.
All my savings lie under the spruce tree,
the one where you first kissed me
Take it, my dear, and run far away
Stay alone or take a man,
but make sure he's tied to the land
With all my love I bid you now farewell
farewell!
