Brother Seed

Well, it’s whispered in the crypt
The greenwood waxes early
Omens go from lip to lip
Where the deer go running yearly

It’s murmured in the chambered cairn
The greenwood waxes early
My only daughter goes with bairn
Where the deer go running yearly

And she a youngling in her bud
The greenwood waxes early
She’s lain with one too near in blood
Where the deer go running yearly

Oh, mother, mother, read my wyrd
The greenwood waxes early
Read it keen and read it clear
Where the deer go running yearly

Oh, daughter, daughter, I’ll read your wyrd
The greenwood waxes early
I’ll read it keen, I'll read it clear
Where the deer go running yearly

With belly full of brother seed
The greenwood waxes early
You’ll have no friend in word or deed
Where the deer go running yearly

And a winnowing fan upon the land
The greenwood waxes early
Is an oar upon the roaring brine
Where the deer go running yearly

Such sooth as this will see you through
The greenwood waxes early
Upon your long and slow decline
Where the deer go running yearly

Now because our mortal span in middle realm is endless and fleeting
With lowborn swords and skyborn hosts and bygone ghosts for our souls competing

You’ll be clad in widow’s weed and draped in trailing navel cord and a borrel
To wander evermore among the snares, along the margins of the world

Though I wish no ruin on you, child, still I know a ruin must come
But I would have that ruin come with haste enough to make you blind and dumb

No more to murmur omen, no more mouth, dark abra-kadabra
To see your mother ill surrender soul and leave an intact cadaver

And the fire drake her eyes in the skies when I’m laid in cold earth
And a mandrake to cry on the vile hour of the unwed’s birth