I'll tell it as I best know how

And that's the way it was told to me I

Must have been a thief or a w***e

Then surely was thrown overboard

Where they say

I came this way from the deep blue sea

It picked me up and tossed me round

I lost my shoes and tore my gown

I forgot my name

And drowned

Then woke up with the surf a pounding

It seemed I had been run aground

Well they took me in and shod my feet

And taught me prayers for chastity

And said my name would be Colleen and

I was blessed among all women

To have forgotten everything

And as the weeks and months ensued

I tried to make myself of use

I tilled and planted but could not produce

Not root nor leaf nor flower nor bean Lord

It seemed I overwatered everything

And I hate the sight of that empty air

Like stepping for a missing stair

And falling forth forever blindly

Cannot grab hold of anything No

Not I most blessed among Colleens

I dream some nights of a funny sea

As soft as a newly born baby

It cries for me pitifully

And I dive for my child with a wildness in me

And am so sweetly there received

But last night came a different dream

A gray and sloping shouldered thing

Said What's cinched 'round your waist Colleen

Is that my very own baleen

No Have you forgotten everything

This morning 'round the cape at dawn

Some travellers sailed into town

With scraps for sale and the saddest songs

And a book of pictures leather bound that

Showed a whale with a tusk a meter long

Well I asked the man who showed it me

What is the name of that strange beast

He said its name translated roughly to

He Who Easily Can Curve Himself Against The Sky

And I am without words

He said My lady looks perturbed

The light is in your eyes Colleen

I said Whatever can you mean

He leaned in and said

You ain't forgotten everything

You dare to speak a lady's name

He said My lady is mistaken

I would not speak your name in this place

And if I were to try then the wind I swear

Would rise to tear you clean from me without a trace

Have you come then to rescue me

He laughed and said from what 'Colleen'

You dried and dressed most willingly

You corseted and caught the dread disease

By which one comes to know such peace

Well it's true that I came to know such things as

The laws which govern property

And herbs to feed the babes that wean

And the welting weight for every season

But still

I don't know any godd**ned Colleen

Then dive down there with the lights to lead

That seem to shine from everything

Down to the bottom of the deep blue sea

Down where your heart beats so slow

And you never in your life have felt so free

Will you come down there with me

Down were our bodies start to seem like

Artifacts of some strange dream

Which afterwards you can't decipher

And so soon have forgotten

Everything