When I was a little girl

Younger than nine or ten

I once spoke to the Silver Lady

But I never saw her again.



To me she flew out of the sky

She was born riding on the water

Her hair blew all around her

She was the crazy man's only daughter.



I used to see her every day

Riding her golden pony

Only once did I hear her laugh

And it echoed far and lonely.



Once I watched the river run

And I wandered too far from home

There I met the Silver Lady

She was crying, all alone.



I said, "Lady, why are you crying?

If I had wings like you

I would be flying over this river

And singing like only birds do."



Well she threw back her head and she smiled at me

Her tears, how they shone in the sun

She said, "I have no wings to fly with

If I did I would surely be gone.



"My brothers have all gone far away

To follow their hearts and be free

But I am the youngest and my father is ageing

And all he's got left is me.



"I love my father dearly

Madman though he may be

It would break his heart if I should leave him

But this life is killing me.



"I feel the ocean pulling me

The breezes come and tell me things

I want to go with them wherever they go

And see what the new morning brings."



So she sadly turned away from me

So I stumbled my way back home

The next day I heard she had taken her horse

And gone off to parts unknown.



Her father stayed inside his lonely house

And he never more came into town

He could be seen roaming the riverside

And they say that he jumped in and drowned.



Long though I waited, she never returned

But when I felt a silver breeze

I knew she had sent it from wherever she