'I do not exist'   We faithfully insist   Sailing in our separate ships   And coming in tiny caravel   Tiring of trying, there's a necessary dying      Like the horseshoe crab   In its proper season sheds its shell   Such distance from our friends   Like a scratch across a lens   Made everything look wrong      From anywhere we stood   And our paper blew away   Before we'd left the bay   So half-blind we wrote these songs   On sheets of salty wood      You caught me making eyes   At the other boat men's wives   And heard me laughing louder   At the jokes told by their daughters      I'd set my course for land   But you will understand   It takes a steady hand      To navigate adulterous waters   The propeller's spinning blades   Held acquaintance with the waves   As there's mistakes I've made      No rowing could outrun   The cloth low on the mast   Like to say I've got no past   But I'm nonetheless   The librarian and secretary's son   With tarnish on my brass      And mildew on my glass   I'd never want someone so crass   As to want someone like me   But a few leagues off the shore   I bit a flashing lure      And I assure you, it was not   What it expected it to be   I still taste its kiss   That dull hook in my lip      Is a memory as useless   As a rod without a reel   To an anchor ever dropped   Seasick yet still-docked      Captain spotted napping   With his first mate at the wheel   Floating forgetfully along   With no need to be strong      We keep our confessions long   And when we pray we keep it short   I drank a thimble full of fire   And I'm not ever coming back      Oh, my God!      'I do not exist,' we faithfully insist   While watching sink the heavy ship   Of everything we knew      If ever you come near   I'll hold up high a mirror   Lord, I could never show you   Anything as beautiful as You