[1] It was a cold night And the snow lay low I pulled my coat tight Against the falling down And the sun was all And the sun was all down And the sun was all And the sun was all down I am a poor man I haven't wealth nor fame I have my two hands And a house to my name And the winter's so And the winter's so long And the winter's so And the winter's so long And all the stars were crashing 'round As I laid eyes on what I'd found It was a white crane It was a helpless thing Upon a red stain With an arrow its wing And it called and cried And it called and cried so And it called and cried And it called and cried so And all the stars were crashing 'round As I laid eyes on what I'd found My crane wife, my crane wife My crane wife, my crane wife Now I helped her And I dressed her wounds And how I held her Beneath the rising moon And she stood to fly And she stood to fly away And she stood to fly She stood to fly away And all the stars were crashing 'round As I laid eyes on what I'd found My crane wife, my crane wife My crane wife, my crane wife [2] My crane wife arrived at my door in the moonlight All star bright and tongue-tied I took her in We were married and bells rang sweet for our wedding And our bedding was ready when we fell in The sound of the keening bell To see its pain erect Soft as fontenelle The feathers and the thread And all I ever meant to do was to keep you My crane wife My crane wife My crane wife We were poorly, our fortunes fading hourly And how she loved me, she could bring it back But I was greedy, I was vain and I forced her to weaving On a cold loom, in a closed room down the hall The sound of the keening bell And to see its pain erect Soft as fontenelle The feathers and the thread And all I ever meant to do was to keep you My crane wife My crane wife There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart It rakes at my heart My crane wife