[Verse 1]
Eleven strangers on a boat off Trinidad at dawn
A missile from a cloudless sky and then another one
Two men in the water reaching for the sun
Someone gave the order don’t leave anyone

[Chorus]
Why didn’t they just board the boat
Why didn’t they just ask their names

[Verse 2]
Alejandro Carranza left Santa Marta at dawn
His boat his nets the water he’d relied upon
Engine failed signal flew drifting in the sun
They called him terrorist his daughter called him dad

[Pre-Chorus]
Katerine wants to know
Where they put her husband’s bones
Cheila’s fourteen
Holding the face they won’t send home

[Chorus]
Why didn’t they just board the boat
Why didn’t they just bring him home

[Bridge – spoken, slow]
Eighty-three dead no trials no names

The sea keeps what it’s given the sea feels no shame

[Outro – quiet, deliberate]
I’ll say their names
Alejandro Katerine Cheila
The one who never got a trial
The two still waiting by the water
You cannot kill your way to clean
You cannot sink what we have seen

Words, chords, and arrangement by Gene Scott