Songs of Winter

Winter lays its cloak upon the land we know Deep beneath the northern stars, the hearthfires glow By the fire the skalds still weave their tales While the snow drifts past the shuttered veils   Old kings ride through smoke and memory Longships cross the frozen sea of dreams Every spark becomes a story in the night Every child grows silent by the light   Through the winter firelight We keep the old tales burning Through the longest northern night The wheel of years keeps turning   Hear the voices in the flame Speaking names we've long remembered Ash and snow may hide the trail But not the songs of winter   Outside the darkness walks through the pines White as silence, cold as ancient signs Ravens cross the moonlit snow below Following roads that only spirits know   Yet inside the hall the embers burn And the young still listen and learn Of heroes lost beyond the foam And the gods who guide them home   Through the long winter night Voices dance within the flame We remember every name Though the snow buries the plain   Through the frost and through the years We keep the old songs near While the wolves cry to the sky The stories never die   Winter remembers What men forget Ashes grow silent Yet stories are kept   The fire burns low The shadows grow tall But the voices of ages Still answer the call   Morning waits beyond the longest dark Hidden in the final glowing spark The skald lays down his weathered song at last While the winter gathers round the past   Snow and fire side by side Memory walking with pride Old and young beneath the same cold sky Listening as the long years pass by   Through the winter firelight We keep the old tales burning Through the longest northern night The wheel of years keeps turning   Hear the voices in the flame Speaking names we've long remembered Ash and snow may hide the trail But not the songs of winter   When the dawn returns once more And the ice releases rivers Still the stories cross the years Living on in every listener