The Rope That Holds the Mainsail (Rim)

Lyrics

[Intro]
A porcelain cup.
The gold is worn thin.
A small chip, right at the rim.

[Verse 1]
In the old book from 1795,
it shows a man in a sail loft, in Portsmouth.
He has a leather palm, a sailmaker's palm.
He pushes a curved needle through the canvas.
Making it strong, so it will not fray.
The rim of the mainsail.
He smells tar and hemp thread.

[Verse 2]
On the HMS Endeavour, in 1768,
the wind is cold off Cape Horn.
Captain Cook notes the repairs in his journal.
The rope is stiff, the canvas is wet.
The whole world depends on that one edge.
The rim of the sail against a grey sky.

[Chorus]
The rim of the cup where the tea goes.
The rim of the sail where the wind blows.
The rim of the lake where the soft mud grows.
Just a line... where one thing ends and another knows.

[Verse 3]
Pemba showed me the lake after the rain.
The water was still.
We walked the edge, the muddy rim.
Little green shoots were pushing through.
It smelled of damp earth and wildflowers.
The water lapped at the rim of the shore.

[Bridge]
The book didn't have the sailmaker's name.
Just his hands, making the rim.
And the sun has a rim when it rises.
And the moon has a crater with a silver rim.
So many edges.
So many places to stand and look over.

[Chorus]
The rim of the cup where the tea goes.
The rim of the sail where the wind blows.
The rim of the lake where the soft mud grows.
Just a line... where one thing ends and another knows.

[Outro]
My thumb traces the line on the porcelain.
The gold rim.
Still warm from the tea.
The rim.