[Intro]
F#m C#7 C#7/F#
[Verse]
F#m Bm
What is a woman, that you forsake her
A C#m D E F#m
And the hearthfire and the home-acre
Bm F#m Bm C#7 F#m
To go with the old, grey widow-maker?
[Verse]
Bm F#m
She has no house to lay a guest in
D Bm F#m
But one chill bed for all to rest in
Bm C#7 F#m
That the pale suns and the stray 'bergs rest in
[Verse]
Bm F#m
She has no strong white arms to fold you
D Bm F#m
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you
Bm C#7 F#m Bm C#7 F#m
Down in the dark where the tide has rolled you
[Verse]
C#m D
Yet when the signs of summer quicken
E Bm
And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds thicken
A Bm C#7 F#m
Yearly you turn from our side and sicken
[Verse]
C#m D
Sicken again for the blood and the slaughters
E Bm F#m
You steal away to the lapping waters
Bm C#7 F#m Bm C#7 F#m
And look to your ship in her winter quarters
[Verse]
Bm
You forget our mirth, our talk at the tables
F#m D E F#m
The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables
Bm C#7 F#m Bm C#7 F#m
To pitch her sides and go over the cables
[Verse]
C#m D
Then you ride out where the storm clouds swallow
E Bm F#m
The sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow
Bm C#7 F#m Bm C#7
Is all we have left for the months to follow
[Verse]
F#m Bm
Ah, what is woman, that you forsake her
A C#m D E F#m
And the hearthfire and the home-acre
Bm F#m Bm
To go with the old, grey widow-maker?