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Chorus
Hear where the children are singing
I kissed the sleep on your brow
Here where the children are weeping
I held you till your heart became mine
Somewhere deep in the midnight
Night birds send out their calls
Somewhere far from the madness
The shadows of leaves touch the walls
And you taught me to dance with the heartbreak
Of those who carved stone with their woes
And showed me to love in the darkness
The visit it comes and it goes
Chorus
Hear where the children are singing
I kissed the sleep from your brow
Here where the children are laughing
I held you till your heart became mine
Now falls the light by your side
And flows to a sea of lost dreams
The ocean opens its arms to lost souls
Toils the night so it seems
And who can recall the lost favour
The distant look in your eyes
Spanish guitars in night plazas
In a park you can hear lovers cry
Chorus
Hear where the children are singing
I kissed the sleep on your brow
Here where the children are weeping
I held you till your heart became mine
Chorus
Could we be in France again?
Dance beneath the olive trees
Lingering bodies on a deserted beach
Moon above to catch the breeze
In my eye I see you still
Darkened hair and a tender smile
Leaning out of the window sill
Clutching roses all the while
Chorus
Could we be in Spain again?
Dance beneath the olive trees
Mingling bodies on a deserted beach
Moon above to catch the breeze
If I had a hundred wishes
And only one of them could come true
I would wish that over this distance
I could be right there now with you
Do you remember the summer when
We took to the coast of Clare
Heard the ocean on the rocks
Listened to the music there
Chorus
Could we be in Ireland again?
Dance beneath the oak trees
Mingling bodies on a deserted beach
Moon above to catch the breeze
If I had a hundred wishes
And if only one of them could come true
I would wish that over this distance
I could be right there, now with you.
What pagan smile has touched your lips
What melody so sweet
Soothed your breast your beating heart
The underworld gone to sleep
Twisting trees old and true
Stand huddled watchingly
Oh, ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Into the clutches of night
I can see the torch lights shine bright
The gates are drawn, the hounds sit still
There's laughter that bubbles within
Down bend the trees quietly witnessing
Man's journey into himself
Ever turning ever churning
Clutching the waves of his wealth
Yearning, a thirst never quenched
Tumble the thoughts until they like petals on the ground
Gathered by winds stretched through the tree
Like a whispering sigh
Ancient castles on climbing cliffs
Summoned by the sea
Windswept shores and crashing waves
Rages furiously
Twisting trees old and true
Stand huddled watchingly
Oh, ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Ages past, ages hence, pages turned carefully
Put the chair upon the grass
Bring Rody and his hounds
That I might contented pass
From these earthly bounds
His eyelids drop, his head falls low
His old eyes cloud with dreams
The sun upon all things that grow
Falls in sleepy streams
Brown Lollard treds upon the lawn
And to the armchair goes
And now the old man's dreams are gone
He smooths his long brown nose
And now moves many a feathered tongue
Upon his wasted hands
For leading aged hounds and young
The huntsman near him stands
And servants round his cushioned place
Are with new sorry wrung
The hounds are gazing on his face
Aged hounds and young
The fire is in the old man's eyes
His fingers move and sway
When the wandering music dies
They hear him feebly say
'Huntsman Rody blow the horn
Make the hills reply'
'I cannot blow upon my horn
I can but weep and sigh'
One blind hound lies apart
On the sun smitten grass
He holds deep commune with his heart
The moments pass and pass
The blind hound with a mournful din
Lifts his wintery head
The servants bear the body in
The hounds wail for the dead
Huntsman Rody blow the horn
Make the hills reply
Huntsman Rody blow the horn
Make the hills reply
Huntsman Rody blow the horn
Make the hills reply
The huntsman loosens on the morn
A gay and mournful cry
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful -- a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made a sweet moan.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said --
"I love thee true."
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream'd -- Ah! woe betide!
The strangest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill's side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried -- "La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!"
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
As a boy you knew the stables
As a lad you knew the fields
My son you worked beside me
But to country you must yield
Chorus
You were called to serve the country
You were called to serve the king
And from our home you left one day
And of this today I sing
When I stood there at the station
And our eyes one last time met
It was at that moment my dear son
T'is that I'll ne'er forget
Is it now a mother's blessing
That the country is truly free?
You gave your life for all of us
And all humanity
As I stand here at your grave side
And the spring birds sing their song,
My child I love you more and more
And will my whole life long
Chorus
You were called to serve the country
You were called to serve the king
And from our home you left one day
And of this today we sing
I seek to hold you
In sunshine or in rain
Beneath the heavens
I'm coming home again
So far we drifted
Like ships upon the sea
Horizons fading
We lost our destiny
The storm clouds hover
Our vanity like pain
Which held back the winds
That bring us home again
Oh could I see now
The swallows in their flight
Or watch the moon dance
On oceans in the night
The trees reach upward
To help the birds to fly
And of the creatures
Who will hear them when they cry?
We walk the hillside
Like lost souls through the night
And in the darkness
We're searching for the light
And in the morning
Like freshly fallen dew
Much like a moon's breath
I'm coming home to you
This journey's over
Another's just begun
Beneath the moonlight
Or by the warming sun
For I remember
That if my heart be true
Just like an eagle
I'm coming home to you
From: Lost Souls (2018)
see the separate lyrics pages for the authors of the lyrics and
notes on the corrections made.
<=== The Loreena McKennitt
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Jos van Geffen --
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