Onilley's Strange Dream - Rheostatics

Hello, my friends

My name is Onilley McNoan--to me

I went to war on the Caroline

Remember from that other song?

Well?

There the author got it wrong

Survive did I--I did not drown

I lived on Turtle Isle

I jumped the Caroline

For she’d been had by Neptune

Gadungder burped the sea;

Now coral grows inside her hull

Me and Jim, my lifeboat friend--

Strips of flesh torn from his limbs

Well, Chicken Jimmy kept me alive

(Though wasn’t much for conversation.)

Life-boat this and life-boat that;

For days and days I fought the waves

And landed on an open beach of gold and blue

I picked myself up off the sand

I Hauled my body onto the land

And from the jungle there they stand…

They layered colors on my face and on my arms

Hornbills squawked;

I fed on fruit and wild boar

I showed them guns and taught them how to sing Lang Syne

And everyone was happy

She was the queen with funny teeth

She tried to hide them underneath

Her dainty hands and nervous lips

Though I could not tell her so

She was the one who kept me breathing

While the wild volcanoes flared

She told me I was sick with pride--

All pumped up and sentimental

The sky grew dark with ash

And powder settled on the water

Gadungder burped the sea

And funnels spiralled down to take her

I climbed the highest tree

And from the sky I heard her call

From this dream--as I awoke--

I could have sworn that Jimmy spoke

But it was probably just the boat

Some sailors never die

I woke up under an ocean sky

With a pile of bones laying at my side