Keep the Little One Warm

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
Two war-bands in the timber, two banners in the leaves,
the old feud running hotter than the sap in summer trees.
But low inside a bower where the lantern-moths were drawn,
a mother fought a harder war to bring a new life on.
And when the raiders found them, blades bright among the fern,
the midwife rose to meet them with a fury soft and stern.

[Pre-Chorus]
She laid the squalling newborn in the war-chief's shaking hands,
and the whole wood leaned in listening to one woman's command:

[Chorus]
"Put up your iron and hold them - keep the little one warm.
Your war can wait at the threshold; there's a life being born.
For every breath that joins us, the deep roots drink and sing -
you cannot fell a forest that grows faster than you swing."

[Verse 2]
No blood was spilled that morning; they swore peace beneath the boughs,
two elfhames bound together by a baby's milk-soft brow.
That child grew up an arrow, fletched in feather, flame, and pride,
a song of both their peoples with the forest on their side.
Now every soul she welcomes, every cradle, every door -
Marwyn stands a little taller than she ever stood before.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And when the dark comes hunting, when the axes ring the glen,
she reaches down through root and loam and the green wakes up again:

[Chorus]
"Put up your iron and hold them - keep the little one warm.
Your war can wait at the threshold; there's a life being born.
For every breath that joins us, the deep roots drink and sing -
you cannot fell a forest that grows faster than you swing."

[Bridge]
Hush now, little seedling, there are wolves beyond the light,
but every ring of heartwood started small as you tonight.
I have sung a thousand mornings up from bloodied ground and pain,
and all life begets life, love - say it back to me again.

[Final Chorus]
"So put up your iron and hold them - keep the little one warm.
The war can end at the threshold; there's a world being born.
For every breath that joins us, the deep roots drink and sing -
you cannot fell a forest that grows faster than you swing."

[Outro]
Midwife to the mothers... and a leader to us all.