Sinner in the Sea

There’s a piano playing on the ocean floor between Havana and New Orleans Drummin’ a requiem for the dead and the souls hanging on every poet’s prayer Running to the rock, running to the sea Prayin’ to the Lord please shelter me But the ground keeps shaking, water is boiling on fire Blood pulsing through their veins like the waves crashing on the Malecón wall Clocks stopping at twelve on the eve of a forgotten war Luis drivin’ a ‘59 making it half way across the Gulf Stranded on the rock, stranded on the sea There’s a wall in the ocean between you and me Dreams of reaching dry land, talking to the fortune teller Prisoners pounding the jail like the waves crashing on the Malecón wall Someone lost an eye, someone lost the truth Trying to save face, oh ‘neath the eyes of the Virgin el Cobre Shout me a line sister, shout me a line sister Oh I see your hands in the air, see you drowning on the other side “Chief’s in the parish and the drummers in the square Walkin’ across the fire, walkin’ across the waves” Sinner in the rock, sinner in the sea There’s a sunken bridge ‘tween you and me Running past the embassy gates, the Santería shrine Blood pulsing through their veins like the waves they remember Crashing on the Malecón wall