🎵 Lyrics
Where the river bends through oak and hill And the air grows sweet against your will Stone and thorn and green entwine A wall that guards both leaf and wine Before the lakes, before the roar Of wider worlds and deeper lore There’s a rise the old maps share Marked only by a cider air If you smell the apples on the breeze You’re already welcome, friend, at ease Follow scent and lantern light The Cider House waits every night Vines climb stone and windows too As if the house itself just grew A double door of seasoned wood Knows every guest who ever stood A pond lies clear with sandy side Fed by a spring the hills provide From garden heart to river run The water goes where it’s begun If you smell the apples on the breeze Half a mile is close as needs No crown required, no coin denied Just thirst, good sense, and time inside Armand came down from shattered skies With solar fire in elven eyes A planar road behind his back And none ahead he wished to track He found the trees already fair Set down his sword, unbound the air Brewed his travels, stop by stop Into the fruit the branches dropped A fairy bride, a laughing hall Children quick to grow and fall Yet always one would choose to stay And keep the house another day Four centuries the apples know The hands that press, the hands that pour Blood may thin, but still remains The book, the chain, the mountain’s wings So drink to hills and river’s bend To d’Halle blood and stranger-friend In a wild world sharp with claw and flame The Cider House still knows your name And if you leave before the dawn— You’ll carry summer with you on.