What Hope is there
When war and contagion
Scar the slumbersome land
And the nights of winter
Freeze furze and finger
Stay the strong, honest hand

Of the working man
And the potato crop fails
And terror with pestilence spreads
And greed and fury
And murderous thoughts
Nest and fester in heads

And beds
And Gods are only for the rich
And the Absence is all there seems to be
The kingdom is falling
Its people are crawling
Black and bloody from nose to knee

What hope is there
Is that hope you keep
From one day when the world felt just right
When your father fed you
Or your mother held you
And sang to you into the night

Hope is a memory
A knowledge of something
That has been and so could be
The good in the world
If fought for and not forgotten
Will come back again
You will see

When you die, daddy, I'll eat your flesh
After I've butchered you and roasted you on the spit
Salted your heart and carved you to bits
I'll drink of your blood, however much is left

When you die, daddy, I'll dance to your bones
Once I've hacked off your leg from your hip
And fashioned your ankle into a tip
And pierced five holes for each of the five sacred tones

When you die, daddy, your guts will be in mine
Your muscle will feed my pith and vitality
Your brains and your liver will become my tenacity
The strength of your back will harden my spine

When you die, daddy, I'll cling to your chest
I'll share with mother the grief of your leaving
And remember your eyes, before the ritual cleaving
Your words and your warmth before the Long Rest

Go roaring, to death, my sweet dying boy
Howl injustice to the moon and curse every fool who'll go on living
Let fly your soul, in these hours be not coy
Breathe flames in your fading, be not forgiving

I will come for you there, my sweet suffering son
Under the Table where no mortal may wander
I will lay blade to the Babagoora, see their magic undone
You will hear me coming, the rolling of thunder

Go now, from here, go off coarsely below
Fear not in the darkness, think not of running
Go proudly and swiftly and in dying just know
That you'll hear me roaring, Death will hear me coming

The old cattle are lowing
The River Mye is flowing
The long nights are going
And yet it is snowing

Soft white kisses in our hair
On the eve of springtime fair
Chill the mule and chill the mare
Frost the apple and the pear

Fall of heaven, snow and sunbeam
On the puffin, seal and sea bream
Bear the serenity of a daydream
Overbear and eclipse the grand scheme