We were twenty pampered maidens under dormitory glass,
Gossiping about boyfriends, dates and clothes
We glanced through the tasteful windows at the growing storm outside
And never once took measure of the snows
Long past the time of night,
We found no morning light
Blizzard covered all the world we'd known
Beyond all reach of law,
We looked around and saw
The ice age come to find us all alone

Chorus:
Cancel my salvation, Give me leave to go
Back to the freedom of the snow, ah, the snow,
Back to the freedom of the snow

As darkness, cold, and blizzard closed around our cringing cave,
We wore our furs for better things than show
We melted snow for water when the pipes and the fuel lines froze
And thanked the gods for the stores of food below
The furnace caughed and died
We lit the fire and cried;
We didn't have the wood to last a day
So we played a hand or three,
And the high card fell on me,
So I took an axe and went to find a way

I found the tree blown over where the driveway used to be,
And the axe flew swift and easy as a flame
I wasn't cold or weary It was strange to be so free,
Then out of the dark that junkie came
He didn't seem to know
I was a changeling of the snow,
Not the easy, peacetime girl he thought he'd found
The axe swung clean and high,
And it caught him through the eye,
And I took my wood and left him on the ground

(musical interlude)
We dreamed about this story as we camped beside the fire
We sang it while we hunted through the day,
Until the hour our sentries saw the snowplow clear the road,
And our families came to chase the spell away
So go back to your shopping, all, go find yourself a man,
Go forget that you were ever strong or free
But in dreams I see them still,
The blizzard on the hill,
The fireplace and the fireaxe and the tree