Benjamin Francis Leftwich
Swim Until You Can’t See Land
[Verse 1]
We salute at the threshold
Of the North Sea in my mind
And I nod to the boredom
That drove me here to face the tide
And swim, swim, swim

[Verse 2]
Dip a toe in the ocean
Oh how it hardens and it numbs
And the rest of me is a version of man
Built to collapse into crumbs
And if I hadn't come down
To the coast to disappear
I may have died in a landslide
Of the rocks and hopes and fears

[Chorus]
Oh, swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Are you a man or a bag of sand?

[Verse 3]
Up to my knees now
Do I wade? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before
Though it's my first and perhaps last time
Let's call me a baptist
Call this a drowning of the past
She is there on the shoreline
Throwing stones at my back
[Chorus]
Oh, swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Are you a man or a bag of sand?

[Bridge]
Now the water is taller than me
And the land is a marker line
All I am is a body
Adrift in water, salt and sky

[Chorus]
Oh, swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Are you a man or a bag of sand?
Swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Swim until you can't see land
Are you a man or a bag of sand?