When doors lie open at halloween On glimmering hills and lands unseen The oldest of all that the world gave birth Ride again through the hills of earth Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun Long before the word was spoken Moon scarred or promise broken From dust before the first day's Sun The children of the twilight come Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun When the great stones rose on the windy plain And the corn-mother sang for the springing grain They carved the chalk downs on the hill The grey host rode and it's riding still Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun When the eagles came with their wings outspread And the hard roads rang to the legion's tread The wall ran straight from coast to coast Under the starlight rode the host Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun When they came from the north with their axe and plow And the one-eyed God hung from the bough Nine nights between the earth and sky He saw the host come riding by Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun When clamoring bells and chanting priests Proclaimed the dead God from the east And churches rose on every hand Still the grey host rode the land Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun When gold was God and labor cheap And they herded men like dogs herd sheep Through furnace glare and smokey mill The grey host rode and it's riding still Out of the darkness On the road where the dead years run Cold as moonlight Terrible as the Sun Through tower blocks and littered streets Where sirens wail and dossers sleep Where hope lives God only knows (All the gods died long ago) Still the grey host rides through the dead of night And the cities a shadow to their sight For beyond the mist of centuries Still shine the stars and the ancient trees Out of the darkness