A Lover's Oath

From the album, Horse Tamer's Daughter

As I was out a'riding one evening last July,
I heard a maiden singing and bitter she did cry.
I quietly then dismounted to get a closer view,
and see if there was 'ought a man of honor could persue.

She stood all in the clearing and noone else was there.
Her eyes with salt tears shown within the shadows of her hair.
Her dance was wrought in anger and her voice was tight with pain.
As she sang her song of undiying love for some far-wandering man.

"Oh, you deny the magic and you deny the love.
But I swear an oath by all that's bright in the darkening sky above-
That we have shared a magic and the love flowed strong and true!
You can stop your ears to my heart's song and still it sings for you."

"So you want to be my friend and use a friendly voice to me-
Oh, I swear an oath by all that lives on land, in air and sea
that I do not leave the friendship when my heart's led by romance.
You can close your eyes on the swirl and sway, but you cannot stop the dance."

"So you say you fear to hurt me or to cause me some new pain.
Oh, I swear an oath by myst and fog, by sleet and snow and rain-
That the finest treasure's worthless if its beauty is not seen
And you pierced my heart like cold hard steel by denying what had been."

"Well, I pity all your ladies for your memory's so short.
And your eyes bespeak of romance when you're only wanting sport-
Oh, I swear an oath by all I hold in this world to be true,
That as deep a greif as I feel now, tis a greater loss for you."

She swore that final oath and then she danced it to the ground.
The birds and beasts, the myst and rain, all heard that final sound.
And I'm the only witness as can tell the tale to you-
Of the sorrow learned by those who find that love can be half-true.