Broken Watch

He was staring across the glass sea
From a fishing boat he named Marie,
Living day to day on his own account.
He never did stay too long
In any place, he'd just drift along
Following his trade down south.
Every now and again, when his days were lonesome weary,
He'd pick up a stranger, drifters running someplace far.
But nothing really changed much as he'd hear their stories,
A broken watch held inside his palm like a scar.

On a dimly lit afternoon,
He made harbor at the rising moon,
A place he'd kept forgotten long before.
It was there she owned a joint,
A quiet bar that imposed no point,
With a kind of pride it silently wore.
He stood inside the doorway, frozen somewhere in his past.
As their eyes met again, he felt the weight of the broken watch.
She gave him a sad smile, like something that was never meant to last.
"I didn't think you'd find me here." The moon traced its watery patch.

He walked slowly across the floor
Turned his back against the wooden door
Laughed, "You were never one for masquerades."
She took a seat beside him,
Both knowing there was nothing between'em
But they could laugh and remember far away days.
As the evening sky did settle, and a stillness in the air it fell.
He reached into his pocket, placed the broken watch into her hand.
Said "You left without a word one day just left a note said farewell.
It's funny, I never thought to look for you or even felt that bad."

She opened up her palm
The way she did that lonesome dawn
Long departed in the mist of the time.
Said, "I had to travel far away
And there was nothing your or I could say
That could make me think that parting was a crime."
She placed the watch upon the bar, as her fingers felt the faded gold
Said, "I don't need a time that ain't moving, standing still."
Told her he'd be leaving soon, nothing there now for him to hold,
Drowned another drink of whiskey as he said his last farewell.

He walked along the moonlit dock
Felt the steel of the broken clock
As he lit a smoke, watched the shore drift away.
Across the open sky
The stars were blooming bright
As he mumbled something he forgot to say.
Silence seemed to hang about whatever place he stood around
Though it never bothered him at all if he was there or not.
He held the watch inside his hand, spun the seconds one last round,
He tossed it to the sea, watched the ripples mark its spot.