Forefather - Shadows Of The Dead lyrics

The heart hangs heavy Of a warrior overcome Twigs break beneath my feet As I make the long way home When the time for duty came The fear was clear in their eyes Their painful howls will ring When they see just I survive My kinsmen lay behind me Prostrate in open graves Cold and still, bereft of life The field-of-slaughter's prey As daylight wanes and birdsong fades I ponder what befell Laid back on my bed of leaves I curse that I still dwell Shadows of the dead Bathe the field at sunset Echoes of the slain Haunt the dawn at daybreak As dawn's embrace approaches And breaks my somber dreams I call to mind our falling flag My brethren's final screams The harrowing sounds of conquest Still pierce my troubled soul As bent beneath the weight of grief I grimly wander on Some are born to thrive Others doomed to die As fate decrees, the threads proclaim The path an arrow flies A spear-thrust parried or true A kingdom saved, or a tribe enslaved The web that wyrd will weave The outcome fortune deems Joys unbound, or a burial mound Courage that lasts or fails The wind on hostile sails Sorrow's tears or blissful cheers