[1]



It was a cold night

And the snow lay low

I pulled my coat tight

Against the falling down

And the sun was all

And the sun was all down

And the sun was all

And the sun was all down



I am a poor man

I haven't wealth nor fame

I have my two hands

And a house to my name

And the winter's so

And the winter's so long

And the winter's so

And the winter's so long



And all the stars were crashing 'round

As I laid eyes on what I'd found



It was a white crane

It was a helpless thing

Upon a red stain

With an arrow its wing

And it called and cried

And it called and cried so

And it called and cried

And it called and cried so



And all the stars were crashing 'round

As I laid eyes on what I'd found

My crane wife, my crane wife

My crane wife, my crane wife



Now I helped her

And I dressed her wounds

And how I held her

Beneath the rising moon

And she stood to fly

And she stood to fly away

And she stood to fly

She stood to fly away



And all the stars were crashing 'round

As I laid eyes on what I'd found

My crane wife, my crane wife

My crane wife, my crane wife



[2]



My crane wife arrived at my door in the moonlight

All star bright and tongue-tied I took her in

We were married and bells rang sweet for our wedding

And our bedding was ready when we fell in



The sound of the keening bell

To see its pain erect

Soft as fontenelle

The feathers and the thread

And all I ever meant to do was to keep you

My crane wife

My crane wife

My crane wife



We were poorly, our fortunes fading hourly

And how she loved me, she could bring it back

But I was greedy, I was vain and I forced her to weaving

On a cold loom, in a closed room down the hall



The sound of the keening bell

And to see its pain erect

Soft as fontenelle

The feathers and the thread

And all I ever meant to do was to keep you

My crane wife

My crane wife



There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart

There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart

It rakes at my heart



My crane wife