In an age yet come an age long past A crowd gathered 'round with eyes all cast To a man on a stage in a patchwork cloak With hands like lightning, fire, and smoke He made fly leather, flame and steel And plucked at a harp with a heavenly feel And sang with a voice so moving and strong That all passers by were entranced In his song Hold high your drinks to the king of the bards Roll all your dice and lay down your cards Drum with your fists on the tables and bars Sing out your heart as you gaze to the stars He knuckled his mustaches and produced a black wood flute And from the gilded silver sprouted reels jigs and tunes The tavern floor was shaking from the dancing and the booze And not a man or woman there could ever have refused Now the gleeman held the throng in the palm of his hand As he spun tales and songs of old heroes and lands But any can have secrets and not all is what it seems And the evening was cut short by a demon from a dream A pale grey thing with an eyeless gaze Drew from hanging robes a long black blade He slithered through the crowd yet before he reached the stage A pair of knives flew into empty sockets on his face Hold high your drinks to the king of the bards Roll all your dice and lay down your cards Drum with your fists on the tables and bars Sing out your heart as you gaze to the stars