Intro
(Again-walker! Again-walker!)
Valkyrie came — I sent her back empty...
(Hu-ha!) Valhalla's a hall full of plenty —
I had unfinished business in the twenty —
(Again-walker!) The mound couldn't hold me — I'm already...
Verse 1
They buried me deep with the blade and the silver,
Heaped the stone-cairn — thought that cold would deliver.
Packed the grave-goods — thought the dark was my pillar —
Woke up third night and I cracked every timber.
Valkyrie circled with her spear at the ready,
Met her eye to eye — kept my dead-gaze steady.
Told her Óðinn's hall could wait on my eddy —
I've got names on this earth and my grip isn't empty.
Swelled to twice the height when the moon hit the barrow,
Shoulder-width splitting the grave-passage narrow.
Livestock on the hillside dead before morning-sparrow —
Every thrall in the longhouse dreaming my shadow.
They said it was the wind — I walked the roof-ridge nightly,
Pressed the thatch down slow till the timbers creaked rightly.
Three men went mad from the gaze I took lightly —
One glimpse of dead-eye and the mind lets go slightly.
Pre-Chorus
Horses found at morning with their necks at wrong angles (wrong angles)
Milk curdled black in the pail — that's my sample.
The jarl nailed horseshoes and hung iron to trample —
Iron's for the living — I walked through the bramble. (uh!)
Chorus
I chose the mound over mead-hall and throne (hall and throne!)
Valhalla feasts many — the barrow's my own (barrow's my own!)
Again-walker rising from the burial stone (burial stone!)
The dead don't stay buried when the will's fully grown! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2
They sent the first hero at the dark of the new moon,
Big man, full arms, thought he'd end it by high noon.
Found him at the mound-mouth — heard him humming a war tune —
I let him find me in the dark of the barrow-room.
Grappled in the grave-dirt for the length of a tide-turn,
Felt his strength — good man — watched the confidence die-burn.
Pinned him to the cold stone with the grip of the iron-firm,
One look in the dead eye — watched the sanity unturn.
He lived — I let him — that's the draugr's discretion,
A warning walks further than a corpse for a lesson.
Second hero came with a priest and a blessing —
Iron cross, holy water, Latin-text addressing.
I sat in the mound-dark while they chanted and sprinkled,
When they left I rose again — not even wrinkled.
Third man came alone — no prayer, no symbol, no tinkle —
Just blade and nerve — that one made my dead-eyes twinkle.
Pre-Chorus
Horses found at morning with their necks at wrong angles (wrong angles)
Milk curdled black in the pail — that's my sample.
The jarl nailed horseshoes and hung iron to trample —
Iron's for the living — I walked through the bramble. (uh!)
Chorus
I chose the mound over mead-hall and throne (hall and throne!)
Valhalla feasts many — the barrow's my own (barrow's my own!)
Again-walker rising from the burial stone (burial stone!)
The dead don't stay buried when the will's fully grown! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge
You want to know what I guard in the dark?
(what do you guard?)
Not the silver — not the sword — not the mark.
(not the silver...)
I guard the name before it fades in the stone —
(the name...)
Every deed I ever did — mine alone.
Valhalla wipes the warrior clean of his past —
(wipes it clean...)
I kept the past — that's why I chose to last.
(chose to last...)
The einherjar drink and forget who they were —
(they forget...)
I remember everything — that's the draugr's slur.
I am what I did — every oath and every cost —
(every oath...)
The again-walker keeps what Valhalla gets lost.
(Skál to the mound! Skál — the will that won't break!)
(The dead stay dead until they choose to stay awake!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus
I chose the mound over mead-hall and throne (hall and throne!)
Valhalla feasts many — the barrow's my own (barrow's my own!)
Again-walker rising from the burial stone (burial stone!)
The dead don't stay buried when the will's fully grown! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Again-walker! Again-walker!)
Third night — every time...
(Hu-ha!)
The cairn cracks.
The name holds.
The will doesn't die.
(Skál.)
