Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)

Soldier: Heart carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet A sweetheart left behind Girl: Far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas That's where my true love lies Soldier: Look for me when the sun-bright swallow Sings upon the birch bow high Girl: But you are in the ground with the voles and the weevils All a-chew on your bones so dry But when the sun breaks to no more bullets in battlecreek Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then I will be home then I will be home then I will be home then Then Girl: When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee Made a seam to hem me in Soldier: There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless Got my heart right pierced by a pin Soldier: But O did you see all the dead of Manassas All the bellies and the bones and the bile? Girl: No, I lingered here with the blankets barren And my own belly big with child But when the sun breaks to no more bulletin Battle Cry Then will you make a grave? For I will be home then I will be home then I will be home then I will be home then Soldier: And stems and bones and stone walls too Could keep me from you This skein of skin is all too few To keep me from you Solider and Girl: But O my love though our bodies may be parted Though our skin may not touch skin Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow I will come on the breath of the wind