The stones are as cold as the words from our tongues
What good is the harp when the battle is done?
when her brothers are dead
and the field is all crows
what can she sing?
what does she know?
when they are beside her no more?
Tell her what are the songs for?
She took to the war with her vows to sing truth
her harp strapped to her back as a sword
she marched and she laughed with the war band’s bold youth
and inspired them each with a word.
They traveled for days through the forest and fen
Until they reach the sea past the moor
They set up in the village, lit fires, and then
awaited the raid on the shore.
The harp plays so sweetly
as the carnage is wrought
the tales are a monument
painfully bought
Or are tales of glory sufficient in death?
When each note was expelled
by someone’s last breath.
She was set on the cliff to watch the first strike
as the forces moved out with the tide
Death met the raiders and kinsmen alike
on the white sand where no one could hide.
As the spring storm rolled in she sang in the rain
Her voice tumbling down to the sea
But from her great height she saw t’was in vain
As her force was backed up on the scree.
The stones are as cold as the words from our tongues
What good is the harp when the battle is done?
when her brothers are dead
and the field is all crows
what can she sing?
what does she know?
when they are beside her no more?
Tell her what are the songs for?
She could not be reached on her aerie so high
Wrapped in the smoke of the ships
Nothing moved save the sea that she could espy,
But the words still rained down from her lips.
Till her voice broke she keened, that the sound cover
the calls of the dying below
calling for mother, and father, and lover…
begging the gods to their favor bestow.
The harp plays so sweetly
as the carnage is wrought
the tales are a monument
painfully bought
Are tales of glory sufficient in death?
When each note is propelled
by someone’s last breath.
What good is the harp when the battle is done?
when her brothers are dead
and the field is all crows
what can she sing?
what does she know?
when they are beside her no more?
Tell her what are the songs for?