2003-03-11 - 5:41 p.m.

You cannot take my husband
He is not fit for war.
He has no gift for fighting.
He doesn�t care what you�re fighting for.
He is the Master of this house.
He plants and tills the field.
And if you take him off to war
What will become of me?

But they bound him up in heavy chains
And they rode him through the town.
They put him on their wooden ships
And they broke his spirit down.
And a fortnight later they told me
How a dagger pierced his side.
How he fought to the death in the raging seas
Then slowly sank and died.

And oh, the Ravens
With souls like candlelight.
Messengers of doom they sit
And they call my name each night

You cannot take my bonny boy.
You cannot take my son.
He is only twenty years old
And his life is just begun.
The girls all think he�s handsome
And the boys all find him grand.
What kind of a life can my bonny boy lead
With a dagger in his hand?

But they sent him off to a foreign war
And they taught him how to kill.
And I heard from a friend
His life was at end
He�d fallen deadly ill.
Oh, he burned and raged with fever.
It drained his body dry.
It dried his heart, it dried his bones,
It left no tears to cry.

And oh, the Ravens
With souls like candlelight.
Messengers of doom they sit
And they call my name each night

You cannot take my life away
You cannot take my life.
My only son�s now lying cold.
I am a dead man�s wife.
There�s no one left to keep me warm
My heart is bruised and sore.
Why come ye then, why come ye then
To knock upon my door?
There�s a shadow on the doorstep
And it�s ringing at the bell.
It�s knocking at the window
Oh, I know that sound so well.
Death came disguised as soldiers.
Death came disguised as war.
Death came disguised as a scarlet knight
And he calls my name once more.

And oh, the Ravens
With souls like candlelight.
Messengers of doom they sit
And they call my name each night
And oh, the Ravens
With souls like candlelight.
Messengers of doom they sit
And they call my name each night�

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