STORY

A story that begins with me, in a fishing boat, off the coast of Fiji…

I wrote “Sea of Nectar” for an old man in Fiji named Eroni, which is Fijian for “Aaron”. I lived in a fishing village in Fiji for a time. While I lived there, I was known as “Little” Eroni. The old man, “Big” Eroni, was the best fisherman in the village. He had the privilege of hand-picking the young men who were to accompany him on the weekly fishing trip that the villagers relied upon for the majority of their food. For some reason, he picked me - a visitor from Seattle who had never caught a fish in his life - to join them on one of these weekly trips.

Our little boat wound its way through the mangrove swamp on its way out to the reef, where I & the other young men jumped out & started spear-fishing. At low tide, the water only came up to your knees: you could see all the fish, lobsters, octopi, etc. that were trapped inside the reef until the tide rose again. Each of us was giving a sharpened steel rod that we were to spear fish with. I fumbled around in the shallows, utterly failing at catching any fish, until I began to hear my name on the wind. I looked up & discovered that everyone else was back in the boat, & they were frantically calling me to hurry back to them…because the tide was rising, & when that happens, the sharks are able get over the reef & into the lagoon. If I did not make haste back to the safety of the boat, the hunter (me) would soon become the hunted.

I made it back to the boat in one piece, fortunately. Our boat, now filled to the brim with the week’s catch, returned to the village. That night, the whole village celebrated with a feast. I returned home to Seattle. Later that year, I received a letter from a friend in the village telling me that, on my birthday, Eroni had died. This song is about the night that Eroni died. I imagined one last fishing trip, in which he hoists his sail & pilots the boat straight up into the stars, or the clouds, or wherever fishermen go on their final journey. I imagine him up there still, fishing, forever.

 LYRICS

The Fijian lyrics in the refrain translate (roughly) as follows:

ah!, Eroni, where are you going? Storm, where do you come from?
ah!, goodnight, goodbye, Eroni! Storm, where do you come from?

Stardust on window and walls marks the passage of a soul from this house

Sheets of rain (a le le le le) reach in vain (a le le le le)
Hunger's rung (a le le le le) thunder-song (a le le le le)
Pierce the sky we a billion bright exclamations
Spinning in a fierce intoxication
No one ever know his breath's destination

I sa o sa lako ki vei Eroni? Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?
I sa lei ni sa moce moce Eroni Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?
Sea of Nectar Sea of Honey Sea of Tranquility
Dreamers will doubt of their slumbers and time will take its own

Stardust on window and walls marks the passage of a soul from this house
From this house

Tanoa (a le le le le) be the sky (a le le le le)
Takia (a le le le le) be the moon learn to fly
When a man has grown so old and wise
The truth relies on his advice
He knows his time is short his dream is done

I sa o sa lako ki vei Eroni? Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?
I sa lei ni sa moce moce Eroni Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?
Sea of Nectar Sea of Honey Sea of Tranquility
Dreamers will doubt of their slumbers and time will take its own

I sa o sa lako ki vei Eroni? Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?
I sa lei ni sa moce moce Eroni Storm o ni lako mai vei mai vei?

Mercy pleads (a le le le le) pale moon bleeds (a le le le le)
Starlight yearns (a le le le le) silence burns (a le le le le)
To return to feed
Some sweet breath that stirs a restless sea
Desperately in us all
To feed some sweet need in us all