[Verse 1] By the mill where the cold wind sighs Lives a man no one recalls alive With a lantern dim and a crooked grin He walks where the shadows dive [Verse 2] Boots all torn and a coat half gone Muddy hands that have lost their trade He spits in the stream where the wheel once turned Now it creaks like a grave mislaid [Pre-Chorus] You can hear him laugh through the broken beams Like a rat in a hollow chest And the dogs won’t bark when he stumbles past They just turn from an unseen guest [Chorus] Oh the miller turns, though the wheel stands still In the night where the fog won’t part With a flicker of flame and a whispered name He’s been grinding in the dark [Verse 3] Says he worked that stone ‘til his fingers bled For a lord who forgot his name Now he counts his sins in the dripping dark And he drinks to a ghost of blame [Verse 4] Little children dare not to cross that field Where the lantern sways alone For the light don’t guide and it don’t reveal Just the bones beneath the stone [Bridge] Turn it, turn it — hear it cry Grain to dust and the years slip by Lantern low but the eyes still burn Nothing left but the wheel won’t turn [Chorus] Oh the miller turns, though the wheel stands still In the night where the fog won’t part With a flicker of flame and a cursed old name He’s been grinding in the dark Yeah the miller turns where the lost men learn How to live with a hollow heart With a ghost for a friend ‘til the bitter end He’s been grinding in the dark [Outro] Lantern fades… but the steps remain In the mud where the lost ones start And the mill stands still — but it feeds its fill From the cracks in a broken heart
