The Fabled Hare - Maddy Prior

I shall goe until a hare

Wi sorrow and such mickle care

I sall goe in the devil’s name

An while I go home again

I am ruled by the moon

I move under her mantle

I am the symbol of her moods

Of rebirths cycle

I am companion to the Gods

I can conceive while I am pregnant

I call the dawn and spring in

I am the advent

I bring life from water

In a cup that must be broken

I whisper to the bursting egg

I’m Aestre’s token

Scent of dog, scent of man

Closer closer, smell them coming

Hot breath, hot death

Closer closer, hard the running

Tongues pant, hearts thump

Closer closer, through the fields

Teeth snap, bones crack

Closer closer, at my heels

Nearer, yet and nearer

I can hear the hunter’s knife

He is running for my dinner

I am running for my life

Winter wakeneth al my care

Nou this leues waxeth bare;

Ofte y sike ant mourne sare

When hit cometh in my thoht

Of this worldes joie hou hit geth al to noht

Man sprays no weeds

The scythe cuts, the corn bleeds

Leverets trapped in a harvest blade

'Tis the time of man, the hare said

Here’s the tractor, here’s the plough

And where shall we go now

We’ll lie in forms as still as the dead

In the open fields, the hare said

No cover but the camouflage

From the winter’s wild and bitter rage

All our defence is in our legs

We run like the wind, the hare said

I’ve been cursed, I’ve been despised

As a witch with darkest powers

I shall goe until a hare

I’ve been hunted trapped and punished

In these my darkest hours

Wi' sorrow and such mickle care

I’ve been thrown into the fire

But I do not fear it

I shall goe until a hare

It purifies and resurrects

And I can bear it

Wi' sorrow and such mickle care

I’ve outrun dogs and foxes

And I’ve dodged the tractor wheels

I shall goe until a hare

I’ve survived your persecution

And your ever-changing fields

Wi' sorrow and such mickle care

I will run and run forever

Where the wild fields are mine

I shall goe until a hare

I’m a symbol of endurance

Running through the mists of time

Wi' sorrow and such mickle care