Let the Hearthfires Burn

As frigid winds
Whip at the skin of the neck
As banners shreds
Hang limp so that paid be respects

Though to dryness runs
The coursing westward stream
A light yet burns
There where stands the refuge forged in dream

Gaze back o'er the blackened plains
Gaze back o'er the endless grey
Left in our wake

Bones chilled to the marrow, ours
Bones snapped 'neath our palid scars
That sear the jaw

We've long since fled
('twas we who abandoned our posts)
Kindle again
That blaze we forsake at the coast
Unto our kin
Let us bow down and humble ourselves
Fidelity

Let the hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
Not the bite of the frost
Not the thousands we've lost
Extinguish their splendour
Let the hearthfires burn!

Let the Hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
For thirty seasons of rime have we
Lain 'midst the night
Bones aching for quarter
Let the hearthfires burn!

And glowing tides
Wash o'er the faces of ash
And warming blaze, lit within
Pours on backs having met with the lash

The sanctum now attained
And quietude regained
Eternal slumber takes hold
And no more the tundra to uphold

Bear this as a beacon high
Bear this as the flame divine
Lit by the gods

Ne'er shall the fanatic hordes
Ne'er shall the loathsome 'lords'
Defile our warmth
Ne'er to defile!

We've so long yearned
For respite from the dead and the chill
And here bestowed
A loyalty ne'er to bend by their will
Unto our kin
Let us bow down and humble ourselves
Pledge fealty

Let the hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
Not the bite of the frost
Not the thousands we've lost
Extinguish their splendour
Let the hearthfires burn!

Let the Hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
For thirty seasons of rime have we
Lain 'midst the night
Bones aching for quarter
Let the hearthfires burn!

In our hearts do we know
That ne'er deprived us your glowing embers
Those gallant tenders to flame
Fore'er in song to exhalt their names