Banshee, Cry Across the Bog

Lyrics

[Verse 1] At the wall by the old mill, where the blackthorn leans, A white shawl moves through the nettles and the weeds. The dogs all tuck their tails, the latch jumps in its frame, And a woman calls your family name. [Pre-Chorus] She knows the door, she knows the stair, She knows the grief that waits in there. [Chorus] Banshee, cry across the bog, Wake the village, wake the fog! Clap your hands and bar the door, When she cries, the night wants more. Banshee, sing your warning clear— Halloween has brought you here! [Verse 2] Old Nora sets a candle on the kitchen sill, While the church bell shivers on the hill. The lads come laughing from the harvest dance, Then freeze when her long keen cuts the night in half. [Pre-Chorus] No silver charm, no iron key Can turn that ancient song from thee. [Chorus] Banshee, cry across the bog, Wake the village, wake the fog! Clap your hands and bar the door, When she cries, the night wants more. Banshee, sing your warning clear— Halloween has brought you here! [Bridge] She’s not a witch, she’s not a ghost, She’s the name the living fear the most. A family’s sorrow, given breath, A keening bell that walks with death. [Instrumental Break: fiddle and bagpipes] [Final Chorus] Banshee, cry across the bog, Wake the village, wake the fog! Clap your hands and bar the door, When she cries, the night wants more. Banshee, sing your warning clear— Halloween has brought you here! Banshee, cry! Banshee, cry! Hear her keen roll through the sky! [Outro] At the wall by the old mill, where the blackthorn leans, A white shawl slips away through the weeds.