black, red, white (Remastered x2)

I saw in my sleep a young man that was strange to me. His hair was black like the raven on the branch, his lips were red as blood on the frost, and his skin was white like the snow on the mountain. And the sight of him kindled my heart, so that waking or sleeping I had no peace. But a voice rose about me, like the wind in the doorway: “Black hair, red lips, white skin— they will bring blood, they will bring exile.” I said then: If blood is on the path, I will go it. If exile is the price, I will pay it. For better to taste a short joy with him than to live long years in silence and shadow. And again the voice was upon me: “Black hair, red lips, white skin— they will bring blood, they will bring exile.” It was told to me he is of the Sons of Usna noble among men, and beautiful, and doomed. With him I will flee over the sea; with him I will know gladness and sorrow together, till the hounds of Ulster are set upon our track, and the spears of kings are raised against us. And still the voice would not cease its saying: “Black hair, red lips, white skin— they will bring blood, they will bring exile.” But I said: Better one day beside him in love than a hundred years in bonds and silence. Let Connor plot, let his men pursue; my dream has bound me, and my choice is made. So it is set down before the beginning: the brightness of love, and the grief of its quenching, a jewel too shining to be hidden away, a song too strong to be hushed. And the gods gave out their word, terrible and sure: “Black hair, red lips, white skin— they will bring blood, they will bring exile.”