Paring apples Beneath the soiled trees A wife's infertile veins trickle as she weeps For a child as red as blood and as white as the snow Her mind will ease as the seasons pass Providing a son but giving her death Under the trees she lays to rest And as men do he gains another foe This time with such contempt and lies A second wife, a second life The boy with the skin of snow Now has no peaceful place to rest The snow will bleed As seasons pass Join the mother beheaded in death Under the trees he lays to rest The second wife is ill with hate Removing the head of her son Paring his skin and breaking his bones The weeping tears of a sister salts his stew Her brother's bones lie beneath the trees The leaves of a juniper tree change As season pass a black bird begins to sing The tale of a son and his bones Mother's murder Father's feast As a sister weeps beneath the trees You're no son of mine That's why you must die Lay you head upon the chest To the headless death
