Western Wind

(Traditional verse in italics as chorus)

Western wind, when wilt thou blow,
The small rain down can rain.
O that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again!

A knight stares over the battlement,
His thoughts many miles away.
A wind whips the lake waters into foam,
And Finnish skies are gray
As he dreams of a younger day.  (Chorus)

Sigurd took up the cross and swore
He'd sail to Jerusalem.
Eighty ships he filled with Norse,
With Danes and stout Saxon men,
And just for luck, one Finn.  (Chorus)

Outre-Mer is a very strange place
At the end of the Middle Sea:
The sun can kill, the camels are mean,
The fruits are a mystery.
But the Finn found his destiny.  (Chorus)

Secret meetings beneath the moon,
The doves murmur in their sleep.
Saracen lips were soft and warm,
And Saracen kisses deep.
The memories make him weep.  (Chorus)

Then fell Sidon to siege and sack;
The swords drank deep in Tyre.
But when he sought her father's house,
To fight for his dear desire,
He found only ruin and fire!  (Chorus)

Home through Russia the Norsemen go,
They left their ships for the King.
Sigurd asked him along for luck,
King Baldwin begged him sing.
But he's sick of everything.  (Chorus)

He sees her face in the shining Moon,
He spies her grace in the swan.
His dreams are filled with her perfume,
He feels the lips that are gone.
He dreads and welcomes the dawn!  (Chorus)