"1 I reached out my hand; England’s rivers turned and flowed the other way;
2 I reached out my hand; my enemies’s blood stopt in their veins;
3 I reached out my hand; thought and memory flew out of my enemies’ heads like a flock of starlings;
4 My enemies crumpled like empty sacks.
5 I came to them out of mists and rain;
6 I came to them in dreams at midnight;
7 I came to them in a flock of ravens that filled the northern sky at dawn;
8 When they thought themselves safe I came to them in a cry that broke the silence of a winter wood.
9 The rain made a door for me and I went through it;
10 The stones made a throne for me and I sat upon it;
11 Three kingdoms were given to me to be mine forever;
12 England was given to me to be mine forever.
13 The nameless slave wore a silver crown;
14 The nameless slave was a king in a strange country.
15 The weapons that my enemies raised against me are venerated in Hell as holy relics;
16 Plans that my enemies raised against me are preserved as holy texts;
17 Blood that I shed upon ancient battlefields is scraped from the stained earth by Hell’s sacristans and placed in a vessel of silver and ivory.
18 I gave magic to England, a valuable inheritance
19 But Englishmen have despised my gift
20 Magic shall be written upon the sky by the rain but they shall not be able to read it;
21 Magic shall be written on the faces of the stony hills but their minds shall not be able to contain it;
22 In winter the barren trees shall be a black writing but they shall not understand it.
23 Two magicians shall appear in England.
24 The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me;
25 The first shall be governed by thieves and murderers; the second shall conspire at his
own destruction;
26 The first shall bury his heart in a dark wood beneath the snow, yet still feel its ache;
27 The second shall see his dearest possession in his enemy’s hand.
28 The first shall pass his life alone; he shall be his own gaoler;
29 The second shall tread lonely roads, the storm above his head, seeking a dark tower
upon a high hillside.
30 I sit upon a black throne in the shadows but they shall not see me.
31 The rain shall make a door for me and I shall pass through it;
32 The stones shall make a throne for me and I shall sit upon it.
33 The nameless slave shall wear a silver crown,
34 The nameless slave shall be a king in a strange country."