July 24th, Japanese Cemetery
Sayonara Nakamura
When the luggers all sailed away
From Roebuck Back on that fateful day
The diver on the B 19 was Nakamura
Not yet twenty-one
From the land of the Rising Sun
His homeland was the island Okinawa
In the deepest holes of the Lacepede Shoals
To fulfill the pearling master's goals
Went the diver from the B 19, Nakamura
His quest for the lustrous pearl
As strong as his love for the beautiful girl
He'd wed when he returned to Okinawa
Chorus:
But it's goodbye now, farewell
Say goodbye to Okinawa
For today we'll bury you
In West Australia
You will never be as one
With the Land of the Rising Sun
Sayonara. Sayonara. Nakamura
From the West came a tropical squall
And the mercury began to fall
Forty fathoms deep was Nakamura
"Set sail" - no time to stage
For the storm began to rage
And they dragged to the surface the boy from Okinawa
The agony's in his eyes
An old Malayman cries
He knows that the bends have got young Nakamura
Helplessly they cursed
As the diver's lungs near burst
And he died on the deck the boy from Okinawa
Chorus
To the diver's cemetery in Broome
Bearing gifts all deep in gloom
They walked with the body of the diver, Nakamura
Headstones face the west
A thousand divers lie at rest
And they're joined today by the boy from Okinawa
Chorus
And it's Goodbye now, farewell
© Copyright 1993, Ted Egan
One
Year By Bicycle