Waxwing

Waxwing, waxwing, what do you bring

From the frozen north?

Waxwing, waxwing, we've been waiting on you

I bring the amber that I have gathered

On the northern seashore

For the hatchlings I have fathered for thee

I've been underground where wyverns are bound

And where gold and jewels abound

These I hoarded under my berry-brown wings

We have no need, no need of your amber

Likewise your gold and your jewels

There is no true beauty in things of no use

And waxwing, waxwing, my only asking:

Tether the breezes so cruel, and

Keep my young well-feathered and their bellies full

Waxwing, waxwing, what will you do

When your days are far enough through? And

When at last grim death comes knocking on you

I can do nothing but fly in the wake of my kin

I will soar upward, undaunted, and die on the wing

I'll die in the canyon of echoes, you'll still hear me sing

And still I will give to you all the things I bring