Winter Crown
White breath on the window
Iron under snow
Keep your name behind your teeth
There are things the north winds
know
Boot marks cut the frozen yard
Lantern low beside the barn
You said you heard the hillside
move I saw the ravens leave
at dawn
Old road creaks on an empty
gate
Cold iron rings when I turn
the latch
No fire left in the timber
house
Still something waits beneath the ash
Do not call across the ridge
Do not answer what you hear
When the black pines lean together
Something ancient comes near Bow the
knee to the winter crown
Feel that low earth shaking now
No bright road,
no mercy shown
We carry the dark back home
Bow the knee when the white
winds rise
See the frost take both your
eyes Hear that drum beneath the
storm
The north has claimed its own
I keep a blade by the
sweeping mat
Salt in a bowl and a
cold black thread
Your footprints stop at the river
bend
But your voice still speaks from
the shed
Three hard knocks in the wall
at night
One for the living,
two for the dead
I hold my breath till the
silence breaks And count the words
I never said
Do not call across the ridge
Do not answer what you hear
When the black pines lean together
Something ancient comes near Bow the
knee to the winter crown Feel
that low earth shaking now
No bright road,
no mercy shown
We carry the dark back home
Bow the knee when the white
winds rise See the frost take
both your eyes Hear that drum
beneath the storm
The north has claimed its own
If I vanish past the cairn
Leave no torch and speak no
prayer
Let the snow erase the trail
Let the old song fill the
air
Bow the knee to the winter
crown Feel that low earth shaking
now
No bright road,
no mercy shown We carry the
dark back home Bow the knee
when the white winds rise See
the frost take both your eyes
Hear that drum beneath the storm
The north has claimed its own
White breath on the window
Iron under snow
Keep your name behind your teeth
There are things the north winds
know