It's a ruinous Winter,
It's a ruinous Winter,
All across the land,
It's a ruinous Winter,

When the first plant grew, up out of the ground
There was already Rhythm a-singing
For the first plant knew - it was true, it was proud
To be life that our MOTHER was bringing

They say SHE'S a seasonal symphony, sure
But a symphony puts it too nicely
You'd agree that as green as SHE grows, SHE ain't pure
for HER teeth to make you bleed red nightly

No season is sharper than Winter's swift cold
Leaves you frozen right down to the marrow
May Hunter Hisself hunt me down 'fore I'm old,
falling prey to Death's cruel Winter harrow

The pale white snow and the rich red blood
Both cloak the dark soil of the earth
Ruin's a-coming for all that you love
For to make of it death and rebirth-

It's a ruinous Winter,
It's a ruinous Winter,
All across the land,
It's a ruinous Winter,

Yet when Winter falls victim to Spring in HER turn
Gonna plant me some life of my own
They say that Hope's dead, but I still ain't so sure
That those folk know what Hope is to know

If that's so, then I'll go, I'll throw down a few blows
Challenge out MOTHER'S name to the heavens
The Rhythm keeps singing its ebb and its flow
From our ancestors to our descendants

And every last one of us, memories holds
To be more than for what we were born to
In stories and songs and the legends of old
Lie the forge where our dreams morph and form to

You might live in an instant and die in a day
And Oblivion might come tomorrow-
But if violence should silence me, see my song slain
Shed some blood for me, not tears of sorrow-

It's a ruinous Winter,
It's a ruinous Winter,
All across the land,
It's a ruinous Winter,
All across the land.

Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 10th of Severin, in the year 12 AC.