Merlin's Lament

In a castle keep, in a vault of stone, in a house at the end of the lane,
an old man weeps in his door alone and he sings out this mournful refrain.

She will not come back, she will not come back,
though the mountains fall down to the sea,
and the sky burns to cinders and the river runs black,
she will not come back to me.

No lightnin' rede from his books of lore, and the staff in the corner, no fire,
and the crystal ball always bright before is grey as the dust of desire.

She will not come back, she will not come back,
though he call on the powers that be,
they will cipher this message in his cold zodiac,
she will not come back to me.

And joy my love was a dancin spring, and life was the touch of her lips,
and a brook ran mad to my cave downstream from the miracle hills of her hips

She will not come back, she will not come back,
Though the stars hang their tears in the trees,
and tireless Orion lies spent in his tracks,
she will not come back,
she will not come back,
she will not come back to me.