Whispers in the Water

“Whispers in the Water”

(The Sea Shanty of Captain Tully)

2025 Michael J. Citak

[Verse 1]

Oh the sea she don’t forget, and the sea she don’t forgive,

She’ll cradle you in moonlight, then remind you how you live.

She’ll whisper in the silence when the tide begins to sway,

And if you steal her secrets, boys, she’ll call your name one day.

[Chorus]

Heave-ho, lads, steady the line,

Truth runs deeper than the brine.

Heave-ho, hearts never free—

You owe a song to the old black sea.

[Verse 2]

We sailed past stars and sunken moons, where ghost-light dances slow,

We found the trench that swallows sound, where only madmen go.

And I, I heard her humming low, a tune not meant for men—

I bottled up her memory, and I ain’t danced since then.

[Chorus]

Heave-ho, lads, anchor away,

Dreams don’t float, and debts don’t pay.

Heave-ho, hush when you plea—

There’s teeth in the tides of the old black sea.

[Bridge]

I lost my crew to silence, I lost my name to foam,

But I still hear them singing in the sea that calls me home.

[Final Chorus]

Heave-ho, don’t lie to the deep,

She’ll hold your truth while you’re asleep.

Heave-ho, sing honestly—

Or drown in the song of the old black sea.