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Lyrics: Decemberists. The Crane Wife. The Crane Wife 1 and 2.

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 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

The sound of the keening bell
To see its pain erect
Soft as fontanel, the feathers and 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 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
To see its pain erect
Soft as fontanel, the feathers and a 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