The fishwife has a terrible life
Working night and day
To shining fish she takes the knife
And cuts their guts away
To shining fish she takes the knife
Their guts lie on the floor
She lays the haddock on the board
And slices through their gills
She lifts their chins without a word
And treats them as she will
She lifts their chins without a word
And lays their roes to nought
She slides her knife along their flanks
Their scales to rub away
Their armour lifts in dulling ranks
And falls silver in the day
Their armour lifts in dulling ranks
Leaving their skin raw
Her husband is a basking shark
Whose teeth shine cool and bright
He takes the money from her work
And spends it all at night
He takes the money from her work
And spends it all on drink
He swims the pools where sailors sink
His dives they are all foul
His breath is fermentation's stink
And poison rots his bowels
His breath is fermentation's stink
His kidneys are all gone
One night as he demands more cash
She cries "There is no more
Where is our love you one proclaimed
Would last for ever more?
Where is our love you once proclaimed
Would last until we died?"
He smiled his smile, he grinned his grin
And this he said so smooth
"Our love is like the cast-off skin
That lies there in the ooze
Our love is like the thrown-out skin
That rots there in the mud"
He smiles his smile, he smirks his smirk
And this he says so blithe
"My love, I am a basking shark
And you are mine to tithe
My love I am a basking shark
And you're my legal prey"
Morning comes he staggers in
And sways against the door
She hammers him with a marlin spike
And knocks him to the floor
She hammers him with a marlin spike
For killing conger eels
She stabs him with her gutting knife
In the kidney fine
He writhes in agony on the boards
His blood a scarlet shine
He writhes in silence on the boards
And gasps out his last breath
His eyes take on a silver sheen
Like cod upon a dish
His muscles harden up like wood
Like a wind-dried fish
His muscles harden up like wood
Like a knotted stave
She guts him fast and feeds his guts
To the crabs beneath the brine
His corpse she buries in the sand
Beneath the high tide line
His corpse she buries in the sand
To ferment in his own piss
Six months she leaves him to ferment
Until no poison's there
Then she hangs him in the wind
In the cold salt air
Then she hangs him in the wind
Three months until until he's cured
She cuts him into inch-square chunks
And stacks him in a dish
The meat is foul and ammoniac
Like the shark he is
The meat is foul and ammoniac
And ready for the feast
Then come the winter festival
She takes him to the meal
Of all the the owners of the pubs
Who all her wealth did steal
To all he owners of the pubs
Who lace their booze with bile
She says "You've had my husband
And fed him cheap whisky
My husband is now cured of drink
And he has gone to sea
My husband is now cured of drink
The sea now is his home"
She says "You've had my money
And taken it with glee
Take now this gift of rotted shark
As a final gift from me"
In that land strongly-rotted shark
Is well loved as caviar
They take, they thank, they eat her gift
That rotted shark so fine
They eat the shark with turnips washed
Down with fine red wine
They eat the shark with turnips mashed
Soft with finest lard
She bows, she turns, whe walks away
She walks down to the street
She seems the happiest she's been
To everyone she meets
She seems the happiest she's been
Since her wedding day
But as she walks down to the shore
To the leaden sea
She does not walk into the waves
As some might forsee
She does not walk into the waves
In madness at her deeds
Instead she casts his shining teeth
Out on the surging wave
And cries "I'll not be made into a fish
Nor turned into a slave
I'll not be turned into a fish
And I am no man's prey"
And then she turns back to her house
And to her gutting knife
And swears that ne'er again will she wed
Or be another's wife
And swears that ne'er again will she wed -
She'll be her own to keep.
1996