Within the fire and out upon the sea Crazy man Michael was walking He met with a raven with eyes black as coals And shortly they were talking
Your future, your future I would tell to you Your future you often have asked me Your true love will die by your own right hand Crazy man Michael will cursed be
Michael he ranted and Michael he razed And beat off the winds with his fist He laughed and he cried, he shouted, and he swore For his mad mind had trapped in a mist
You speak with an evil, you speak with a hate You speak for the devil that haunts me For is she not the fairest in all the broad lands? Your sorcerer's words only taunt me
He took out his dagger of fire and of ice And he struck down the raven through the heart The bird fluttered long and the sky it did spin And the cold earth did wonder and startle
Oh where is the raven that I struck down dead? That here did lie on the ground I see but my true love with a wound so red Where her lover's heart it did pound
Crazy man Michael he wanders abroad And he talks to the night and the day For his speech it is plain and his eyes they are sane And he longs to be far away
Michael he whistles the simplest of tunes As asks the wild wolves for their pardon For his true love is flown into all flowers grown And he must be keeper of the garden