Late evening, the first of May
The lake was still, the moon was pale
A turtledove sang half a song
Then swallowed it before the tale
She waited underneath the rock
Her hair like water on the stone
He never came, just word arrived
Her father's blood was on his bone
May, May, May
The night takes everyone who sins
May, May, May
Love is the knife that lets you in
The prisoner sits, head in hands
Tomorrow they will roll him down
He wonders if the dead hear silence
Or just a different kind of sound
The wheel turns slow, the blade falls fast
The crowd holds still, nobody breathes
A skull rolls gently through the grass
And nature blooms as if relieved
May, May, May
The night takes everyone who sins
May, May, May
Love is the knife that lets you in
Long is the road ahead of me
And no one answers when I call
The man who killed for love alone
Has nowhere left to fall
The lake says nothing, the forest stares
The moon has turned its face away
Only the bones beneath the wheel
Still rattle in the month of May
May, May, May
May, May, May
May, May, May