When the Devil comes a marching
In a cloud of black balloons
Silent crowds all line the street
They cast a black confetti
From dark windows of dark rooms
They toss petals of black roses
To be trampled by his feet.
They wave their blackened pennants
While they follow him with hollow eyes
To penetrate the thin disguise
Of a soul that never prayed
When the Devil comes a marching
To lead the black parade.
The sun itself will flicker dim
The stars will turn away
When they spy the black brigade
That lies close upon his heels --
A sickly evil follows him
Feels the need for death and blood
To exalt the darkness
It sows salt and cancer
Famine and flood and disease
To ruin and to slay
In hope that the pain of life
Will drive the light away.
When the Devil comes a marching
And his hand of harm draws near
Women quake and strong men pale
Children run and hide their fear
For the Devil's always thirsty
And slakes his thirst with still-warm
Blood wrung from the hearts of foes
And all oppose him here.
By innocent blood is darkness broken
And by innocent death is death undone
By the light of a dying word that's spoken
At the cloud-crossed setting of the sun.
When the Devil comes a marching
Drifting like a black balloon
All his deeds will dispell to nothing
In the light of rising noon.