Lyrics
Verse 1Grey was the stone beneath the rain,
Cold in the hand, dark from the vein.
One ringing blow, the shell gave way,
And hidden night awoke to day.
The mountain opened, bright and strange,
A world too old for any name.
ChorusMinerals of a hundred colors,
Sleeping where the daylight ends.
Crimson fire and forest emerald,
Golden sparks and violet threads.
Stars the ancient darkness guarded,
Born before the roots and flowers.
All the wonder of the mountain
In a hundred hidden colors.
Verse 2Blue as the ice on winter lakes,
Green as the moss the spring awakes,
Black as the shafts beneath our feet,
White as the first December sleet.
Each broken surface caught the sun,
And showed a world beneath our one.
ChorusMinerals of a hundred colors,
Sleeping where the daylight ends.
Crimson fire and forest emerald,
Golden sparks and violet threads.
Stars the ancient darkness guarded,
Born before the roots and flowers.
All the wonder of the mountain
In a hundred hidden colors.
Verse 3They carried fragments from the ground
To distant halls and cities round.
With careful hands and searching eyes,
They named the stones and classified.
Verse 4Yet every book and measured line
Could never hold their full design.
For names may tell us what they are,
But not why stone should shine like stars.
BridgeBefore the forest clothed the hill,
Before the lake lay deep and still,
Before a human voice was heard,
The fire below shaped every shard.
No eye had seen their colours burn,
No hand had held them to the sun.
Through nameless ages, sealed from sight,
The mountain kept its fields of light.
ChorusMinerals of a hundred colors,
Rising where the daylight ends.
Crimson fire and forest emerald,
Golden sparks and violet threads.
Stars the ancient darkness guarded,
Now are shining in our hands.
All the wonder of Långban
Born in fire beneath the land.
Minerals of a hundred colors,
Older than the pine and flowers.
Still the mountain hides its wonders,
Still it dreams in silent colors.
OutroAnd deep beneath the sleeping stone,
Where no descending light has shone,
Beyond the reach of hand or name,
A thousand colours still remain.