2. Moon Cradle

Music by Loreena McKennitt. Words by Padraic Colum, adapted by Loreena McKennitt

The moon-cradle'rocking and rocking
Where a cloud and a cloud go by
Silently rocking and rocking
The moon-cradle out in the sky.

Then comes the lad with the hazel
And the folding star's in the rack
<Night's a good herd to the cattle,>
He sings, <She brings all things back>.

But the bond woman down by the boorie
Sings with a heart grown wild
How a hundred rivers are flowing
Between herself and her child.

<The geese, even they trudge homeward
That have their wings and the waste,
Let your thoughts be on Night the Herder,
And be quiet for a space.>

The moon-cradle is rocking and rocking,
Where a cloud and a cloud go by,
Silently rocking and rocking
The moon-cradle out in the sky.

The snipe they are crying, crying
Liadine, liadine, liadine
Where no track's on the bog they are flying:
A lonely dream will be mine!

Where no track's on the bog they are flying:
A lonely dream will be mine!