Within the fire and out upon the sea
Crazy man Michael was walking
He met with a raven with eyes black as coals
And shortly they were talking

Your future, your future I would tell to you
Your future you often have asked me
Your true love will die by your own right hand
Crazy man Michael will cursed be

Michael he ranted and Michael he razed
And beat off the winds with his fist
He laughed and he cried, he shouted, and he swore
For his mad mind had trapped in a mist

You speak with an evil, you speak with a hate
You speak for the devil that haunts me
For is she not the fairest in all the broad lands?
Your sorcerer's words only taunt me

He took out his dagger of fire and of steel
And he struck down the raven through the heart
The bird fluttered long and the sky it did spin
And the cold earth did wonder and startle

Oh where is the raven that I struck down dead?
That here did lie on the ground
I see but my true love with a wound so red
Where her lover's heart it did pound

Crazy man Michael he wanders abroad
And he talks to the night and the day
For his speech it is plain and his eyes they are sane
And he longs to be far away

Michael he whistles the simplest of tunes
As asks the wild wolves for their pardon
For his true love is flown into all flowers grown
And he must be keeper of the garden