Lyrics:

ILSE
And all shall fade
The flowers of spring
The world and all the sorrow
At the heart of everything
But still it stays
The butterfly sings
And opens purple summer
With the flutter of its wings

ALL
The earth will wave with corn
The gray-fly choir will mourn
And mares will neigh
With stallions that they mate
Foals they've borne
And all shall know the wonder
Of purple summer

And yet I wait
The swallow brings
A song too hard to follow
That no one else can sing
The fences sway
The porches swing
The clouds begin to thunder
Crickets wander, murmuring

The earth will wave with corn
The gray-fly choir will mourn
And mares will neigh
With stallions that they mate
Foals they've borne
And all shall know the wonder
I will sing the song of purple summer
All shall know the wonder
I will sing the song of purple summer
All shall know the wonder of purple summer