The Decemberists - The Crane Wife 1, 2, and 3 lyrics

It was a cold night and the snow lay 'round
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 in it's 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 crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found
My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife

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 sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel, the feathers in the thread
When 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 she told me her weaving
Could bring it back
But, I was greedy, I was vain
And I forced her to working
And sleepily she wove me such perfect cloth

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel, the feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife 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
Rakes at my heart, heart heart, heart
Heart, heart heart, heart
Heart, heart my crane wife

And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed

Each feather it fell from skin
'Til threadbare while she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
Each feather it fell from skin

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low

A gray sky, a bitter sting
A rain cloud, a crane on wing
All out beyond horizon
A gray sky, a bitter sting

And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
And I will hang my head, hang my head low