Lyrics

I was still half dreaming when my alarm went off.
I couldn?t remember where I was, so I laid there in the dark.
I heard the ventilation fans, the drone at 60 Hz.
The ship was making fifteen knots by the way the engines worked.

I thought about the long night ahead, then swung my feet out of bed.

?I relieve you, sir?, ?I stand relieved?, the nightwatch was mine.
I only had two things to do: stay awake and kill the time.
There wasn?t any moon that night, a thousand miles from land.
I could cover up a hundred stars in the space of my hand.

I thought about the sailors long ago, out on the sea alone.

All at once I saw myself on a wooden ship at night,
And I alone held the wheel,
With all my shipmates asleep down below, trusting me to steer -
And face my fear.

The bridge was full of shadows in the middle of the night,
Even when my eyes were accustomed to the light.
I could just make out the faces of the guys behind the helm.
They were straight from boot camp - I?d trained them both myself.

They stood at their posts so eagerly - just the way I?d trained them to be.

It was then I heard the voices above the background drone -
The boot camps were singing a song from back home.
They sang together quietly, not daring to be heard,
But not only could I hear them - I hung on every word.

We were all a long way from home. And as softly as I could, I sang along.

I thought about that wooden ship, and looked up at the night -
At the same lights that they saw long ago,
When old Greek men saw pictures and stories in the sky
To save themselves from being all alone - and guide them home.

Then the sky exploded and the sun came up, and the stars disappeared one by one.
?I relieve you, sir?, ?I stand relieved?, and another nightwatch was done.