THE MISSION

The Mission - flag image

THE MISSION

Eternity held in a grain of sand.

We sailed on out of the Port of Spain
One black night in deepest September
Not a soul in that town saw or heard us take leave
As far as I can remember
And the last thing I saw through my trusty spyglass
Was the watchfire's last dying embers

Away into the ocean's cold. lonely embrace
The call of the sirens to a far away place
Our comfort partaken
Our mission mistaken
Damned brethren, cursed blackheart crew members

So down the Blue Peter and up with the flag
That tattered, torn, battle-scarred black piece of rag
We'll rally around with the worst and the best
Far-sighted, forewarned high atop the crow's nest
Out into the night guided 'twixt stars and moon
But no port shall recive our souls soon

Many days of good weather with the wind at our sails
Rum and whiskey were flowing un-rationed
A shanty was playing up on the top deck
And they danced to it after a fashion
They rattled their cutlasses, battered their drums
All the mates with the mission, em-passioned

They told old seas stories as tall as the mast
The sails they did billow and they thought it would last
They danced and made merry, ev'ry man, Jack 'n all
But'twas then that the topsail had started to fall
And 'twas then that my face turn-ed ashen

So down with Blue Peter and up with the flag
That tattered, torn, battle-scarred black piece of rag
We'll rally around with the worst and the best
Far-sighted, forewarned high atop the crow's nest
Out into the night guided 'twixt stars and moon
But no port shall recive our souls soon

Becalmed and be-damned on a solitary sea
No bird could be seen flying round
No breath from the skies to relieve our sad lot
Left the tattered black sails hanging down
The silent crew languished a-deck in the sun
Creaking song of the hull, but the sound

Our rations run low and our water run dry
Our luck in the Doldrums, we knew not for why
With belief sorely shaken
Our damned souls near taken
We felt here our lives ran aground

And just when I thought my last breath I had drawn
I felt a cool breeze comfort me
Hope swelled like a wave, then dropped, dashed on the rocks
A final cruel trick of the sea
But I lifted my head, a defiant last pose
And green palm fronds, stood proud did I see

A cracked, broken shout issued forth from my mouth
Our salvation spied just away to the South
We scrambled a'decks We had broken the hex
Into paradise we entered free

Fresh water we sought, prized above pirate gold
And bounty the island brought forth
To the East, water fresh, South and West luscious fruit
So sated we set to walk North
Our guard had been dropped like an anchor at port
On we marched until reaching green swath

And there ev'ry man, with a gasp pulled up short
At the sight of that altar, our hopes dashed to naught
For piled above chests of gold, proud and tall
Were the skeletons, skulls and the rags of us all
Here marooned, trapped in time, from henceforth

So cruel a trick of fate, time and the moon
We ran, bent for hell, down ravine
Ran on to the cliff, looked out over the bay
Scoured the line for our old brigantine
Gently lapping, the waters, a still moon shining down
But our ship was nowhere to be seen

Fear and panic gripped the heart of each mate
Led by lust for our mission, to naught but this fate
Our ship, dragged by the kraken down to his dark layer
And we left to nothing but hell and grey hair
And to sing the lament of Colleen

They'd forseen their demise and fore-tasted their lot
In that green pillared clearing on high
They had been there before and would be there again
No matter the curses they'd cry
That blanket of night, their entombment had robed
What e'r daybreak's sun would belay

It was only just now that their reasoning did dawn
They were already dead and there was no-one to mourn
Paradise, hell forever their fate
The Captain, his crew, ship's mascot and First Mate
An etermity of morning drew nigh