[Verse 1] Down by the river where the red ferns grow, He waits in the shadow where the cold winds blow. With a crown of coal and eyes like stone, The king of the hollow walks alone. [Verse 2] She came with spring in her barefoot tread, Wildflowers bloom where she lays her head. But the pomegranate bled like a wound so wide, When he took her hand to the other side. [Chorus] Oh, dance, my darlin’, in the land below, Where the sun don’t shine and the black winds blow. You’re the bloom in the dark, the flame in the frost, The Queen of the Hollow, both found and lost. [Verse 3] Her mama cried out to the hills and rain, "Bring back my daughter from the land of pain!" But six seeds down is a binding spell, And love is a cage when it's carved from hell. [Bridge] He don’t speak sweet, and he don’t speak kind, But he carved her throne with his very own spine. She stays for the winter, then slips away, But he counts each step ‘til the break of May. [Chorus] Oh, dance, my darlin’, in the land below, Where the sun don’t shine and the black winds blow. You’re the bloom in the dark, the flame in the frost, The Queen of the Hollow, both found and lost. [Outro] So if you see her ‘neath the dogwood tree, Dressed in dusk with a crown of leaves, Best turn your eyes and don’t you pray— She’s bound to rise, then fade away.
