The Ballad of Catherine Barkley

Marry me my love, and we’ll run away
From this damn war and this damn rain.
Take me, dear, to the Falls and to the Gate
If we leave now we can escape our fate.
See, oh sweet, the clouds are parting;
They may yet give way to our son’s rising.
Switzerland is calling, love, calling we three on
To life anew, the lie is true and now our sun is falling.
Still I hope, and still I pray, though praying is for fools,
That the rain will slow and our son can grow
In a land without all this fighting.
Curse the curse, and damn the falling rain.
Shut up the skies and stop pain.
Don’t worry, love, and don’t you fret, I am strong—
And I am brave.
But the world it has taken me.
Our son too soon has set.
And I must follow him beyond that horizon.

-Caleb Williams