THE WALKER OF THE SNOW
Poem by Charles Dawson Shanly, 1811–1875; music by Sean Tyrrell
As recorded by Sean Tyrell on "Walker of the Snow," 2019.

Speed on; speed on, good master; the camp lies far away.
We must cross the haunted valley before the close o' day.
How the snow-blight came upon me, I will tell you as we go,
Of the blight of the shadow hunter who walks the midnight snow

To the cold December heavens came the pale moon and the stars
The yellow sun was sinkin' behind the purple bars
The snow lay deeply driftin' upon the ridges drear
That lay for miles around me, the camp for which we steer.

'Twas silent on the hillside beside the solemn wood--
No sound of life or motion to break the solitude
Save the wailin' of the moose-bird, with its plaintive note and low,
The skatin' of a red leaf upon the frozen snow.

Said I: "Though dark is fallin', far the camp must be
Yet my heart it would be lightsome if I had but company."
Then I sang and I shouted, keepin' measure as I tread
To the harp-twang of the snowshoe as they sprang beneath my tread

Not far into that valley had I dipped upon my way
When a dusky figure joined me in a capuchon of grey.
Then I sprang on my snowshoes with a long and limber stride.
I hailed the dusky stranger as we traveled side by side.

But no token of communion gave he by word or look.
The fear-chill gathered over me at the crossing of the brook
For I saw by the sickly moonlight as I followed bending low
The footsteps of that stranger left no marks upon the snow

The fear-chill gathered over me like a shroud around me cast
As I sank upon the snowdrift where the shadow hunter passed
The otter trappers they found me just before the break o' day
My dark hair was blanched and whitened as the snow in which I lay

They spoke not as they raised me; they knew that in the night
I had met the shadow hunter; I had withered in his blight.
Sancta Maria speed us! The sun is fallin' low.
Before us lies the Valley of the Walker of the Snow.


Sean used to sing this in sessions around the Boston area before he recorded it and that's how I got it. Looking at the words now, I don't sing it the same anymore, folked it up a little, sorry.

Barry