The Wynter Stars

I cannot stay wi' thee, my love This long and chill Decembre night The wynter stars that burn above Cast forth their shrill and hollow light On ev'ry hamlet, ev'ry dell And of the coming battle tell And tho' I'd bravely meet the fight The stars do not bode well I cannot tarry longer, dear The lonely chruchbells, far away Proclaim the midnight hour is here And lo! the moon hangs ashen-grey Atop the pallid, cloud-scarr'd sky The banshee hurls her mournful cry From far beyond the frozen bay -- Tomorrow I shall die I cannot pass this night wi' thee Tho' come the dawn we two were wed Fate deems our love is not to be The new-morn breeze that finds me dead Shall veil the fading world wi' hoar As tho' to hide th'entrails of war The cold, black pools of death outspread Like dirt across Earth's floor And if tomorrow finds me dead Thou'lt search the silenc'd battleground And wade thee thro the corpse-strewn meade Until my bones are found Hid thick within the frozen gore That mars each meadow, vale, and moor And tho' th'untimely dead abound My love bids thee endure Thou'lt gently wipe the dirt away From off my bow'd and bloodéd head And hold me in thine arms and say Thou lovs't me tho I'm dead The stars in wynter's frozen dome Like silent ghosts from ancient Rome -- Cast down their light acrost the meade For thou to lead my Spirit home