The way she cried, she lost her eyes
Her lashes left her lids
Her prideful mind, he could not find; her loving lips, he did
Her face she pressed into his chest and told him she must go
"It's in my mind to find a home and a husband for to know"
The end is nigh and that is why I'm not asking you to marry me
The tides will turn, the earth will burn, and wind and sands will bury me
She wandered for a hundred songs along the mountainside
And in the town she'd look around for the ladies of the night
She'd barter false affections for food and feather bed
She thought of her lost lover and the final words he'd said
She learned of flesh and pleasure, her skill was widely known
For just a pretty penny, her body you could own
At night she sang so sweetly, the other whores to hear
They said go to the city, lest fate imprison you here
She was given gifts aplenty by men she did not know
But one who'd heard her singing gave her an old banjo
Soon she played for payment, her freedom she had found
Not whore nor wife but mighty bard, she'd travel the world around
She rose her song for forests, for trees to give us breath
For whales and fish in oceans that greed would put to death
And when the earth was whole again, she'd find the love she once knew
And say I see the world you saved, and now I'll marry you