Hey There, Delilah
The happy one. A far-from-home ballad for Delilah, who holds court at Bobby Juniors beside Fred: a sailor three storms past the headland with a raven for a road map, singing his way home to harbor lights, a seat kept warm by the fire, and the dance she saved for him.
Lyrics
Hey there, Delilah, are the harbor lights still burning
Where the black sand meets the foam?
I am three storms past the headland
With a raven for a road map home.
Fred keeps your seat beside the fire,
Silent as a saint of bone,
And the whole hall drinks to the girl
Who made a skeleton feel less alone.
Yfir fjörð og ís (over fjord and ice),
Ég syng fyrir þig (I sing for you).
When the sky-fire starts to dance,
Delilah, dance with me.
Hey there, Delilah, hold the winter,
Tell the aurora not to fade.
I will cross the whale-road humming
Every promise that I made.
Bíddu mín (wait for me) through the thunder,
Through the salt, through the gale, through the gray.
When the longships turn for harbor,
Delilah, I am on my way.
You wore lace like funeral weather,
Smiled like you had outlived the king.
Every hero in the mead hall
Lost his courage at your grin.
Fred may lean a little closer,
Fred may wear the finer shroud,
But I have sailed through nine cold winters
Just to say your name out loud.
Hey! Ho! Bone-white bride of closing time!
Hey! Ho! Raise the horn and hold the line!
No grave, no god, no Greenland weather
Gets the final word tonight.
Hey there, Delilah, when the ice breaks
And the ravens ride the thaw,
I will hang my sword beside the doorway
And be home before the fall.
Bíddu mín, Delilah, bíddu mín,
Yfir fjörð og ís.
When Halloween comes round again,
You will be dancing there with me.