Flower of the Briar

To the heart of the thunder, the herat of my sorrow
Flower of the Briar
Come storm sea and gales out-howl all these words of me
Flower of the Briar
And my tears and salt sea spray
Flower of the Briar
Where the grey gulls and the white gulls
Fall wing-torn and wounded
At the teeth of the rain
Where the grey waves and the white waves
Bitter as the grave's edge
Bewail with the sea's rage
The world and its pain
That this tide should cleave us
But a little while

Come shipwreck come shelter come flower of the morning
Flower of the Briar
Where gates that are broken and gold as September
Flower of the Briar
Leave old roads their winding
Flower of the Briar
From farthings and flinders
And days locked in doggerel
Or smoored in bland stone
Let love learned from jurymen
Marksmen and traitors
Cough away behind hand
In the hovel of bone
That this road should bind us
But a little while

I wish I could see by the light moon and the dark moon
Flower of the Briar
Beyond the whore's kiss, beyond the nun's pardon
Flower of the Briar
Where fair is unfading
Flower of the Briar
And the lave I give keepless
The grief and its fury
The life and its fire
By the knife-blade of honesty
O touchless and snaring
By the dream and its emptiness
Flower of the Briar