Ben Gunn Lyrics

The table's all wiped clean of the day's madness

The children put to bed without a sound

And it's nights like these when left to my own musings

That I wonder if the old man's still around

Two dozen years ago I set sail from the harbor

Seeking solace from a grief that struck by land

Three dozen honest men all simply seeking fortune

Till the mutineers among them showed their hand

So slipping through the cracks unnoticed like the sea foam

As the captain and the cook each made their plans

Youth and vigor all I had as I made landfall

Soon to find that I had crashed on Ben Gunn's sands

And I, after all these years

Have longed to his that voice among the trees again

If only just to calm these fears

That he might end up like the rest of them

Old Ben

Through the skirmishes and scuffles on the island

By the men who overestimate their worth

Old Ben took me by the scruff and shared the secrets

Of the prospect of escape from a hidden berth

And his words escaped like steam right from a kettle

Spilling endlessly in all directions known

And his wits though surely hanging by a thread now

Proved to be all that we'd need to keep from dying here alone

Quite the gentleman of fortune as he once was

Trading almost all his gold for a ride home

He contemplated where he stood now with the Savior

Never knowing he himself was my own

And I, after all these years

Have longed to hear his voice among the trees again

If only just to calm these fears

That he might end up like the rest of them

Old Ben

So we landed and disbanded here in Bristol

Where I thought it best to settle with a wife

And for a while I heard some stories of the old man

Robbed of currency but given back a life

Some contend he settled quickly into drinking

Others still say he roams wordless like a ghost

But I have to think that, with two eyes and two legs yet

For his kind he's faring better than most

And I, after all these years

Have longed to hear that voice among the trees again

If only just to calm these fears

That he turned out just like the rest of them

Old Ben