The mummer's dance 啄木鸟2005-07-02 19:06:02

When in the springtime of the year
When the trees are crowned with leaves
When the ash and oak and the birch and yew
Are dressed in ribbons fair
When owls call the breathless moon
In the blue veil of the night
The shadows of the trees appear
Amidst the lantern light

We have been rambling all the night and some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there
And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms
In the springtime of the year
The songs of birds seem to fill the wood
That when the fiddler plays
All their voices can be heard
Long past their woodland days

We have been rambling all the night and some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

And so they linked their hands and danced round in circles and in rows
And so the journey of the night descends
When all the shades are gone
A garland gay we bring you here and at your door we stand
It is a sprout well budded out the work of our Lords hand

We have been rambling all the night and some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

We have been rambling all the night and some time of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay

   The Mummer's Dance
      --by Loreena McKennitt