Clear water (2019) (video)

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1. I want clear water from here to the horizon,

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I want some calm sea for the journey still ahead,

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fair weather as we head out for the skyline,

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and the clear sky in the morning and every sunset red.

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2. I want clear water as we sail out to the edge,

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and all I want to hear is the ripple from the bow.

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Let us be at ease now and know our true position,

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like a compass to the star, like a team hooked to the plough.

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And as for all the history, best is left unwritten,

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few would believe if told all we have seen.

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Comedy and tragedy have come along unbidden,

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they are the port and starboard, and we sail in between.

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3. I want clear water from here to the horizon,

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maybe scarred and feathered but who’d say we were wrong.

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Then the journey, not the goal, was the only thing that mattered,

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then the wounds you thought had healed can still be opened by a song.

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If we hear the timbers creak, we’ll be the gift and take,

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voices from outside, for we know our craft is strong.

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As long as we can speak without raising our voices,

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the music of the storm is in the guarding of the song.

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And at night upon the deck, I want to feel the salty spray,

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like warm tears on my face for the passing of the day,

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and watch the wheeling start till the light breaks in the east,

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let the journey never end, let me be at peace.

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4. I want clear water from here to the horizon,

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want some calm sea for the journey still ahead,

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fair weather as we head out for the skyline,

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and the clear sky in the morning and every sunset red.

(Ralph McTell)