The Moon-Eyed (lullaby)

Intro

Draw near, little ember, the lamp is low

The ridge has more secrets than children should know

By cedar bead and Highland thread

Listen softly to the words once said

Verse 1

Mind the caves where the cold roots crawl

Where the pale folk listened behind the wall

Small bearded watchers with moon-sore sight

Who kept their hunting for the lid of night

They fade from the slope when the rooster cries

With silver brows and hidden eyes

But when dusk spills blue on the chimney clay

They wake where the sun cannot find its way

Chorus

Sleep, little ember, stay by the flame

Do not follow if they whisper your name

If pale eyes blink where the cave mouths wind

Turn from the path that the sun cannot find

The drum may warn, and the fiddle may grieve

But some old things do not ask leave

So bar the latch when the pine tops sway

And let the Moon-Eyed keep their way

Verse 2

The Cherokee elders spoke through smoke

Of mountain folk beneath stone and oak

Not born of town, not born of field

With night as a lantern and a cave as a shield

The Scots came west with psalm and plaid

With iron tools and dreams, they had

But even the bold with prayer in hand

Learned to bow to the older land

Chorus

Sleep, little ember, stay by the flame

Do not follow if they whisper your name

If pale eyes blink where the cave mouths wind

Turn from the path that the sun cannot find

The drum may warn, and the fiddle may grieve

But some old things do not ask leave

So bar the latch when the pine tops sway

And let the Moon-Eyed keep their way

Bridge

Do not bring candles past the spring

Do not touch the cave-mouth ring

Do not toss stones where the stillness sits

Or laugh when the dark looks back through its slits

Grandmother’s beads and grandfather’s plaid

Hang near the bed when the dreams turn bad

One says hush, and one says stay

Both say night has its own doorway

Verse 4

A child once followed a silver gleam

Past fern and thorn and a black creek seam

He saw small tracks by the limestone stair

Then heard old breathing under there

He ran back home before sunrise came

With no lost blood and no torn name

But ever since, when the blue dusk nears

He sleeps with cotton stuffed in his ears

Final Chorus

Sleep, little ember, stay by the flame

Do not follow if they whisper your name

If pale eyes blink where the cave mouths wind

Turn from the path that the sun cannot find

The drum may warn, and the fiddle may grieve

But some old things do not ask leave

So bar the latch when the pine tops sway

And let the Moon-Eyed keep their way

Outro

Now let the coals go ruby-small

Let no child answer the cave-mouth call

When dusk spills blue on chimney clay

Keep to the room where warm lights stay

For under root and folded stone

The Moon-Eyed wake, but wake alone

And those who mind the old words right

Will see the morning after night