Trafico Tarifa

To all those passing this night,
Through these waters beneath Tarifa light,

Moving so fast within the lanes,
No time to linger, none to remain,

Working through the dark, our vessels together,
On top of the water, amidst this weather,

Missing those who know our middle name,
Who wait ashore persevering the same,

Missing the grass or missing the snow,
Missing the Christmas we will never know,

We share a plight, a common pain,
As each behemoth passes to an engine’s refrain,

For the time spent here is time apart,
As every wife and daughter know by heart,

As a father or brother, a wife or a lover,
Departs on the ocean, our original mother,

To ply this trade and collect a wage,
A burden of necessity to be born with age,

Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes a passion,
But tonight it’s a loss better not rationed,

To be at sea this eve as only a sailor can,
We tell ourselves this was how to take a stand,

Controlling our course, apart from the rest,
Finding the horizon, standing out amongst the best,

For ages we have been here on Christmas’s past,
Independent and alone, together held fast

Like the strands of a cable, inseparable and able,

We make this sacrifice together on Christmas Eve,
Knowing one day we will be home, never again needing to leave.

Merry Christmas Radio Tarifa - December 25th, 2006