The winds are fair set for the Western Isles.
The ship filled with stores and a cargo of men
Loose canvas rustling in the breeze
Expectation hanging on the minds of all.

We are leaving our loved ones by the hearth
Of home and good friends.
Why do we go? Why take the risk?
Compass and chart and stars will be our guide.

Memories will guard the past
And the bonds which tie us down
And we are off to see the world
To foreign lands and forests heavy with wild sounds
Of bright eyed natives staring at ghosts
Unable to understand or see our ship.

The globe reflected in the eye
Will be smaller, easier to understand
Changing the destiny of man
Forever. A man waves, another throws a kiss
A woman sheds a tear as she cradles a child

And we are gone out into the sea
The land a diminishing crust on the horizon
This is another world and as we are changed
So the world will change and time too.

The cry of the storm petrel skimming the waves
The languid albatross, glider of the southern seas
Will turn their heads at the strangeness of our ship
This blue pearl, this rock, this water surging
And the salt wind fresh against our faces
And the prow cutting a path through the sea

And this our destiny, our beginning
And only the beginning
Of the end.