[1]

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 were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found

My crane wife, my crane wife
My crane wife, my crane wife


[2]

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 fontenelle
The feathers and the thread
And 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
And to see its pain erect
Soft as fontenelle

The feathers and the thread
And all I ever meant to do was to keep you
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
It rakes at my heart

My crane wife