Shanghai, Ballast
He signs on. No questions asked — which suits him.
4 maker's notes · underlined phrases open the annotation
The harbor wore the morning Like smoke upon the tide Men were shouting names I didn't know And I answered one as mine
he loses his name in line one. everything after is a man trying to be re-named by being remembered.There was work enough for anyone Who'd keep his head held low No questions asked of where I'd been Or where I meant to go
My love, don't count the Sundays Or measure every mile The sea has always borrowed men But only for a while
I'll bring home stories salt can tell And pockets lined with pay Enough to make these wandering years Seem smaller someday
So keep a light inside the window Though I may lose the shore Every wave that carries me away Is carrying me toward yours
If I am gone a little longer Than either of us planned Know I left with empty pockets And your name inside my hands
the only cargo he'll admit to carrying.Shanghai faded slowly Brick by brick into the haze The gulls forgot the sound of us Before the end of day
A ship can leave so quietly You scarcely feel it move Until the land becomes a line Too thin to follow through
I've never been afraid of weather Only all the things I owe A man can learn the sea, they say But never where it goes
So leave a little room beside you For the man I mean to be Every mile between our hearts Is one less left to keep
If this letter finds you weathered Read it softly in the light I'll be somewhere under foreign stars Thinking of you tonight.
Every telling begins with a man recruited cheaply and without papers — Shanghai in most versions — where the ship loads before running for open water. In ballast means a ship sailing empty, weighted only to stay upright.