A winding trail where coffin bearers walked
leading to an old church made of stone
we walk through leafy tunnels
we seek the hollow-way
we go where dusky shadows
enshroud the light of day
the coffin trail will beckon
no map will ever show
the deep lanes where we stray
we climb up to a burial
mound amid the sward
inside it lie the bones of
an ancient dreaming lord
his earthly wealth beside him
he’s curled up beside his sword
beneath these rolling plains
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk the ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
we walk to where an ocean
once was twenty fathoms deep
and filled the land with fossils
where weathered sarsens sleep
every stone a wonder
there’s no way we can know
the secrets that they keep
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk the ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
we walk along the lynchets
ruts left by the plough
we lie down in the dapples
beneath the spreading bough
we see the Vale before us
these things have never changed
from stone age until now
up at Wayland’s Smithy
all of us will meet
the living and departed
will dance amid the sleet
sloe-gin elderberry
we’ll toast the morning snow
above these rolling plains
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk the ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk on ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
once there was a woman who
would weave a wicker basket
fill it with herbs and berries
they beat her and they whipped her
burned her house down to the ground
but now her ghost is dancing
everywhere we walk hey hey heeee!
and we are always walking
our way will never end
there’ll always be a barrow
around another bend
until we fly away upon
the back of a White Horse
above those rolling plains
hey hey heeeee!
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk the ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
we walk the ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk the ancient soil
on ancient chalk we walk
we walk on ancient paths
of ancient toil of ancient wars
we walk on ancient soil
on ancient chalk
above these rolling plains