When I Sailed with Magellan

I was fifteen when I first set sail
With salt still on my skin
The harbor disappeared behind
As the wide world pulled me in
I thought the sea was made of storms
And battles to be won
I did not know the greatest prize
Would be the people I’d come to love

For every map has empty spaces
Until a friend gives them a name

Oh, I’ve sailed where the dawn meets heaven
Where the whales sing through the foam
Seen mountains rise from emerald waters
And stars that never shone at home
I’ve crossed the world a thousand times
Through wonder, fear, and gale
And among my countless memories
I sailed with Magellan

I shared bread with island fishermen
Who taught me songs of the tide
And drank sweet wine in foreign ports
With brothers by my side
Some are buried by distant shores
Some vanished with the sea
Yet when the wind is in the sails
They’re still alive in me

I’ve watched volcanoes paint the sky
With rivers made of fire
Seen jungles where the parrots sang
Above cathedrals made of vines
I’ve followed dolphins through moonlit waves
And flying fish at dawn
The world was always larger
Than the maps we drew upon

Oh, I’ve sailed where the dawn meets heaven
Where the whales sing through the foam
Seen mountains rise from emerald waters
And stars that never shone at home
I’ve crossed the world a thousand times
Through wonder, fear, and gale
And among my countless memories
I sailed with Magellan

I remember him upon the deck
Eyes fixed beyond the sea
Chasing a passage no man knew
To lands we’d never seen
The ocean seemed without an end
The sky without a wall
Yet he smiled as if the world itself
Was waiting for his call

We buried friends beneath the waves
And prayed beneath strange skies
We learned that every distant shore
Held hearts not unlike ours
And every place we thought was wild
Had stories old and deep
Long before our wandering ships
Had crossed the endless sea

Now my hands are worn like driftwood
And my voyages are done
But when I close my eyes at night
I still see every sun

Every face
Every shore
Every song I can’t ignore

Ask me not of gold or glory
Nor the fortunes that I made
The richest treasures of my life
Were never meant for trade
A laugh shared on a rolling deck
A friend beside the mast
A sunset burning crimson red
Knowing it might be the last

Oh, I’ve sailed where the dawn meets heaven
Where the whales sing through the foam
Seen mountains rise from emerald waters
And stars that never shone at home
I’ve crossed the world a thousand times
Through wonder, fear, and gale
And of all the tales I’ve gathered
I sailed with Magellan

So when the tide comes for me
And calls me from this shore
Do not weep for an old sailor
Who could have asked for nothing more

For I have known this beautiful world
From horizon unto horizon
And every wave still whispers softly