Turmoil at the border, iron thunder in the sky Shells bloom on the horizon where the rusted barbed wires lie Poison hanging in the air, ghosts still choking on that breath Seven thousand shadows rise and march the no-man’s land of death Headlights cut through smokestacks, through the mist and through the years Empty helmets, broken rifles, all the things we left back here Lonely mile-markers and power lines flicker like a warning sign Every heartbeat, every tire spin keeps us crossing one more line Pre-Chorus You said, “Drive on, don’t look back, just leave the graves behind” But the dead keep step beside us in the corners of my mind Chorus We’re rolling on through the long dark road With the fallen marching at our side It’s a long farewell we never spoke A late retreat we both denied Through the gas and the neon glow Where the past won’t ever die We just keep moving through the night On this endless, haunted goodbye Your breath burned against my cheek as the sirens wailed afar You held me steady in the tremor, under the ash of a burning star Once we crossed that hidden border, there was no safe way to return Just a convoy of lost moments and the bridges left to burn Stop signs scream in crimson, cracked glass eyes in our rear view Every flash a distant volley, every flare a part of you Empires crumble in the mirror, crowned with smoke and headlight glare All the lives we couldn’t save sit in the empty backseat there Pre-Chorus You whispered, “Drive on, don’t turn ‘round, let the battlefield grow old” But the marching boots behind us beat a rhythm through the cold Chorus We’re rolling on through the long dark road With the fallen marching at our side It’s a long farewell we never spoke A late retreat we both denied Through the gas and the neon glow Where the past won’t ever die We just keep moving through the night On this endless, haunted goodbye Bridge The devil grins from trench to trench, counting out the final hand Points at your wildfire hair, laughs at the blood in the sand I can’t breathe easy, not out here, ‘til our footprints fade away ‘Til the mud forgets our names and the smoke forgets that day In the cracked restroom mirror at some roadside, failing town You see years you never lived etch their stories on your frown You ask, “Are we the ones who lived, or just stragglers who survived?” Outside, ghostly ranks in formation keep our memory alive Breakdown / Refrain Dead men marching by the shoulder Down this endless, shattered lane Every mile, the world grows older But their song remains the same We are driving, we are drowning In the echoes of their cries In the glare of neon mourning Where the living wear disguise Final Chorus We’re rolling on through the long dark road With the fallen marching at our side It’s a long farewell we never spoke A late retreat we both denied Through the gas and the neon glow Where the past won’t ever die We just keep moving through the night On this endless, haunted goodbye Outro Turmoil in the distance, thunder fading into rain Still the boots keep time in silence, softly stamping out our names And we’re driving, always driving, through the wreckage and the sky Chased by legions of forgotten In a never-ending goodbye
