04. The Island I Left Behind | Moby-Dick Act I: The Call of the Sea

[The Scene] Morning at the inn finds Ishmael and Queequeg at ease with one another after the mistrust of their first meeting has faded. As they prepare to continue towards the harbour, Queequeg reflects on the island, family and familiar world he chose to leave behind. His memories carry affection and homesickness, but no regret. Speaking now in the presence of a new friend, he understands that leaving home did not mean rejecting it, only choosing to discover what lay beyond its shores. [Verse 1] I see my island rising through the spray, Its green high ridges bright beneath the day. I hear the voices carried from the shore, The home I loved, yet chose to leave once more. [Verse 2] I knew each path that crossed the sunlit sand, The faces dear to me, the familiar land. Yet something in the distance called me free, And drew my searching eyes beyond the sea. [Chorus] The island I left behind still lives in me, Its winds return whenever I face the sea. Yet love of home could never make me stay, I chose the wider world and went my way. [Verse 3] I crossed where speech and faces seemed so strange, And learned to live beyond my childhood range. I carried home within my steady mind, While all I knew lay many leagues behind. [Verse 4] I did not leave because my love was slight, I left because the world lay broad and bright. A shore can shape the heart without a chain, I keep its strength through distance, wind and rain. [Chorus] The island I left behind still lives in me, Its winds return whenever I face the sea. Yet love of home could never make me stay, I chose the wider world and went my way. [Verse 5] I stand beside a friend so lately new, And know that chosen bonds can still be true. The past remains, it does not bar the way, I carry it wherever I may stray. [Outro] My island rests beyond my present sight, Yet in my mind its mornings still are bright. I left by choice, and still my heart can roam, For one may cross the world and carry home.