Water is Wide - 2026 02 18 - Traditional / Jenny Arntzen

 

I don't remember the first time I heard this song. It is as if it was born in my DNA. Perhaps carried through my ancient Celt lineage through Grandpa Jones. 

I do know I have felt a deep affinity for the melody as long as I can remember. The lyrics were also important to me. The idea that, "...we both shall row..." resonates most importantly today.

The original lyrics, the first three verses in my version of the song, speak of romance, unrequited love, and ultimately, disappointment. These are powerful forces in our lives that guide milestone decisions in our life journeys. 

Last year, 2025, I felt a need to broaden the scope of the lyrics to include other dimensions of our life stories, all that we experience beyond romantic love, to grief, betrayal, and resilience.

I have added three verses that speak to making sense and meaning of current life events. 

The first of my verses starts, "The water is wide, I cannot cross o'er, it's carrying me, to a far shore..." In this verse I am speaking to the experience of losing a loved one, of their lives coming to an end, and that they are no longer physically on this earth. However, our loved one speaks to us, "I am gone, but I am not gone far, the water is wide, I can fly o'er.", articulating the ineffable presence of their spirit in our lives. This verse was inspired a few months after my Mom passed away. She was gone, but she had not gone far.

As I sit here, I am writing in my comfy chair beside the fireplace, an empty coffee cup by my left hand. A large, young dog curled up at my feet, my elder dog sprawled in a sunbeam on the couch. The spirit of my Mom, of those who have passed, is not far, in fact, I feel them in this room with me.

The second verse speaks to my deep sense of betrayal by those whose power causes the suffering of children in distant lands. "The water is wide, you cannot cross o'er, I hear your cries from a distant shore..." I feel so disempowered to do anything to alleviate the structural failures that put them in their untenable situation. "I feel your pain, and your hunger too..." I invoke an imaginary transcendence to send comfort and bring about real change in these earthly affairs of humanity, "... I lift my heart, to fly to you."

The third verse ponders how we can bring such hardship to others when it is in our power to improve outcomes for the good of all concerned. "We may never know empty hearts of others, who tear us from our flesh and blood...". We are in the midst of global rise of fascism promulgated on the xenophobic hatred of people who are struggling to secure their families health and well being. "My promise is to bring you hope, to fight for you, to bring you home." The closing line of this verse speaks to my own resilience to be the change we need to see, but also to articulate a sense of resilience as a collective response to these dark forces of human cruelty.

The song closes with a re-statement of the first verse. "The water is wide..." This remains a truth of our time, there are great distances that separate us. "I cannot go o'er..." It is also true that I am constrained by geography, time, and resources in what I am capable of accomplishing. "But give me a boat, with room for two, we both shall row, you and I." However, what we cannot do alone, we can do together, and it is this hope, for collective action, that we both shall row, that is the central inspiration of this song.