When the World Was Young

by Stranger Ways

Listen to it: Iron & Rust Watch it: Fractal House concert

You don't understand
You stand on the brink of a changing world
But your kind never does

When the world was young, it was covered in a veil of darkness

And the sun didn’t shine and the plants didn’t grow
And the waters were cold and the barren stone cursed the sky

And the stone’s stark cry struck a hole in the sky, just a tiny thing at first
But that hole in the sky let the first magic in and the world began to thirst
And the magic formed a bubble, a womb for the first faerie
And the faerie was born and the magic made more to join in its revelry
The selkies moved on the waters and tides and the leprechauns weaved light
The dryads’ trees drank from shellycoat ponds and the wisp-lights filled the night

And the faeries fed on the magic of the world and our numbers grew as the magic was gobbled up
And our reign was long and the air filled with song until that dismal day when the well of magic dried up

And that day saw the birth of something new on the earth, neither animal nor fae
Something born when the world couldn't muster enough magic and creation went astray
A beast called man, born deaf, dumb, and blind, too sad to be humorous
But the world was starved and it couldn’t do better and they soon outnumbered us
And the colors slowly faded, like a sunset after dusk
And the faeries fled to hidden courts in a world of iron and rust

But we faeries are full of mischief; we’re unseen, but far from done
We have made a world that they don’t deserve - in exchange they’re ours for fun
Pluck a child from under her bed, or a lover full of sighs
Steal them away to the courts of the fae, we'll trade music for their
Cries, and they'll be playthings, or curiosities
Small price to pay to be guests among the fae; they alone get to see what life can be

When the world was young, it was covered in a veil of darkness

Now the darkness returns but there will come a day when our glory is restored
When our will finds a way to set man’s world ablaze by the ruse or by the sword