Widow's Walk - Richard Thompson

Six in the morning she’s up there

Up on the Widow’s Walk

Pacing the deck, eyes seaward

Up on the Widow’s Walk

Maybe it’s today, she says

I’ll let the fancy tempt me

She searches for a sign of a ship

But the sea is cold and empty

Lost at sea, they said he was

Never found a trace

Still she scans the horizon

Still her footsteps pace

She fell for his puppy eyes

His face chapped and battered

Most days he was rude or drunk

But charming when it mattered

But he’s never coming back to her

He’s never coming back

Always a thimble of hope, she says

But he’s never coming back

A short fuse and a hammer fist

He could reduce a bar to rubble

The sea was the best place for him

Kept him out of trouble

In the back of her mind she wonders

Does he have another life?

Shanghai, a new passport

Three kids and a wife?

Six in the morning she’s up there

Up on the Widow’s Walk

Pacing the deck, eyes seaward

Up on the Widow’s Walk