She Walks the Graveyard

I wanted to write a song for the season of ghosts and graveyards. Something that felt familiar but with a slightly fresh take. I started in the hope of capturing the essence of a great ghost story in song the way Alfred Noyes captured it in poetry with his haunting classic, The Highwayman.

In my mind, I conjured up a Victorian era graveyard: A full moon, weathered, moss-covered stones, winding paths guarded by gargoyles and broken walls I called forth the spirits of Halloween and placed within that setting a ghost and a grieving figure, searching night after night for their lost love.

But who is the ghost and who was left behind?

Verse
The full moon spread a ghostly shroud
Across the graves as shadows bowed
The saddest night in memory told
It chilled the hearts both meek and bold 

Chorus
He chased her through the moon lit path
Through broken gates and demons’ wrath
He cried in pain but could not retrieve
The love he’d lost and would always grieve

Verse
She was there among the stones
A veil of frost a voice of moans
Some who saw her turned in fright
She walked the graveyard every night

Chorus
He chased her through the moon lit path
Through broken gates and demons’ wrath
When she turned, his courage fled
She seemed so lost so full of dread

Verse
He watched her stand upon the mound
A pile of grassy, plotted ground
This felt familiar he’d seen her before
Chasing her ghost like an ancient lore

Bridge
When the full moon spreads a ghostly shroud
Across the graves as shadows bowed
And once again he saw his name
Engraved in stone ever the same
She was no ghost, but grief made her pale
He was the one beyond the veil

Outro
When the moon is full she walks alone
She feels me in the moss and stone
I call to her, but now I see
The ghost I chase is chasing me