Fourth Watch

Mist keeps no calendar Only water, only wound They rowed him in on borrowed dark Three hands on the oar and none of them mine to hold His mail still warm, the wound still open Gold going out of him like a story going cold I took him in without a question Isles don't ask what a king still owes So lay him down where the apple trees don't fall Where nothing rusts and nothing rots at all Not dead, they'll say, only sleeping, only far I'll keep the fourth watch, the hour before light Candle low, door unlatched, waiting up all night Britain can call and call across the years I won't wake him early, faith outlasts the fear I'll keep the fourth watch till you wake Nine sisters spin the years like thread Count the centuries the way you'd count a rosary Kings rise and fall on the mainland Crowns get melted down for coin and casualty Still I dress his wound each morning Still I whisper that the story isn't over yet So let them carve his name in cold gray stone Let them mourn a grave that's standing empty, alone Not dead, I swear, only sleeping, only far I'll keep the fourth watch, the hour before light Candle low, door unlatched, waiting up all night Britain can call and call across the years I won't wake him early, faith outlasts the fear I'll keep the fourth watch till you wake Every isle needs a border it can't cross Every faith needs a distance it can't lose I am the space between the myth and the loss I am the watch nobody else would choose So let the fog hold, let the water hold Let the whole world wonder if the tale is true I'll keep the fourth watch, the hour before light Candle low, door unlatched, waiting up all night Britain can call and call across the years I won't wake him early, faith outlasts the fear I'll keep the fourth watch I'll keep it for you Mist keeps no calendar Only water, only watch