Richard Shindell - The Island lyrics

Island life does have it's charms
The constant sun, the steady breeze
Nothing ever happens here
Few are those who do not
Fall beneath the spell

It's language is an orphan branch
But one that I can understand
Its cadence is familiar
It shares the old declension
From the continent

I came here with a package deal
Everything all prearranged
Three nights at the Grand Hotel
Where all the rooms have ocean views
By latitude and longitude
Mariners will not arrive
Its coordinates are plotted
By it's relative position to the rising sea

The lucky few who call it home
Are prosperous and confident
And they manifest a certainty
That, come what may
Things will not be otherwise

But time is on the ocean's side
The beaches shift, the cliffs erode
Though the engineers do what they can
Everyday another house just slides away