[Verse 1] We worked from the last cross on the chart, the course, the time, the log. My father read the figures out. I put the next one down. Each pencil mark began where the one before had ended. By late afternoon the river mouth should have been ahead. [Verse 2] The coast gave us no opening. We lowered the tender anyway. Our boat stayed at anchor. We went ashore to look. I searched along the waterline for where the river entered. There was no break in the shore, no way leading inland. [Refrain — low, fully sung, no emphasis] “It must be dry,” my father said. “The river must be dry.” [Short instrumental turnaround — 2–4 bars, same harmony, no new melody] [Verse 3] The growth came down unbroken. No channel crossed the ground. There were no banks on either side, no marks left by the water. The bay was small enough to see from end to end. Nothing there had been worn away. We stood where the mouth should have been. [Refrain — identical melody and delivery] “It must be dry,” my father said. “The river must be dry.” [Outro — drums and electric guitar drop out; voice, acoustic guitar and bass remain; no swell, no ritardando, clean ending] We went back to the tender. The mark stayed on the chart. The coast stayed where it was.
