Atlantean Kodex – He Who Walks Behind The Years (The Place Of Sounding Drums) lyrics

On roads of ash through fields of sorrow
Through years of joy and times of grief
The pilgrim’s heart is guided by longing
Ever wandering towards his home

In the end who is spared from leaving?
Despite his gold and all his grace?
Is a man not bound to go there?
Dark is the forest, where all roads end

Am I shield adorned with turquoise?
Am I a stone in a mosaique?
Am I as the mountains?
Or the wind or the sun or the rain?

Will my kin conquer or fade?
Will I ever walk this earth again?
Will they shroud me in fine robes?
Will my name be carved into memory‘s stone?
Will my scions remember my deeds and my name?

Walls rise cold and speechless in the plains
As the winds of eternity rage
Louder, in the distance, drums are calling
And the ghosts of my ancestors rise

Where I must tread – no one can follow
Out in the plains it is dark and cold
The narrow path – and no one can join me
No golden tombs – our kingdom is not of this world

So silent the green forests of my homeland
Where the dreams of my childhood once lived
Louder, in the distance, drums are calling

Our days fall fast behind us with autumn in the east
The sobering holy water tastes so bitter on our lips
How can I find the way home, when winter rules the land?
When father sun has left me, what comes after the end?

Under tall oaks in fragrant orchards my footfall echoes
When the tempests of spring cleanse the world
Louder, in the distance, drums are calling
Where the blood of my ancestors lies

Here on earth I think of those who came before me
And of Him who walks behind the years
At the gates I muse upon Generations to be
As the sound of drums draws near

On roads of ash through fields of longing
Through nights of wonder and oceans of grief
All from the golden days of childhood
Life is the debt we all pay in death