Lullaby to Erie lyrics

Mothers have woven a black velvet ocean

And spread it between the night and day shores

So that children might sleep, gently rocked by the motion

Of waves beneath boats built by fathers like yours

With you safe aboard by the shore we will linger

And watch as your breathing it fills up the sail

You loosen the moorings, your grip on our finger

And leave on the velvet a silvery trail

Alone on the shore with our heart close to breaking

We stand in the wake as you glide from our reach

Calmed by the thought that the voyage your taking

Will bring you at dawning back safe to this beach

We cannot sail with you, be there to guide you

Or pilot your boat through the black of the night

But no ocean can keep you, no darkness can hide you

Away from our love and its undying light