Coast of Maine

I set the pots in early morning
The work is hard, the air is cold
The sea can change without a warning
This life can make a young man old
I take my catch down to the market
I take my wages home each night
While up the river sits a fortune
In stone and lumber, out of sight

I do this work my mother taught me
I cannot read but I can sew
I make these pieces for the tourists
A souvenir before they go
The months are short, the needs are many
And summer's sales must last the year
While up the river sits a fortune
Hungry silence lingers here

This second home will be their haven
They have the means to build their dream
I am the one who pours the concrete
Who lays each joist and fills each seam
But at my home the stairs are open
There isn't time or cash to spare
While up the river sits a fortune
And there's nobody living there

The eagles nest beyond the reaches
Of city light and human hand
They struggle here beside the people
Who fish the sea and farm the land
But once the eagle nearly vanished
From poisoned oceans, soil and rain
A human and a bird's returning
Surviving on the coast of Maine