Hark! The hounds are hot
Upon the trail of our quarry
Spur your horses faster
And let not your arrows miss
Fell the tallest tree
To feed the fires at the castle
Meat we'll need aplenty
For tomorrow we shall feast
Wait! Who is this standing in our path
Stand aside or you shall feel my wrath
Don't you know that this is my domain
To die you left me
You should have slain me
I stand before you
Now you shall face me
I am the bastard
Of your carousing
I am the true heir
And your undoing
Father your henchmen
And lackeys surround me
Cast not the first stone and you
Shall be saved
Lies! You foul wretch!
For I have no heir
What I do by night
Is my affair!
From your words
It's clear that you're insane
Now! For your life
You must prove your claim
Round the fires the Thralls
Pursue their folly
Prophecies and foolish tales of old
Of an ax the elders tell a story
When the Ax is freed from hell
A single stroke shall break the spell
When the Ax is free again
It won't matter, when it's over
but ending, its everything
Shall we gaze into the sky
And watch the stars expire
Or is it just our eyes?
Shall we quarrel and conspire
and in our cups we'll raise
our knuckles to the sun
and curse the sea
Shall we strut about inside
And haggle for the dearest nest
the highest bough?
it won't matter, when it's over
but ending, its everything
Las the widows to the mast
and hope our craft will last
this broken mirror sea
and feel the vastness of the swells
that crash against a wall so high and wide
it's barely there at all
And helpless watch the storm
Foaming forms of locust swarms
against the mirror sky
Swarming - an insect storm
A million paper wings that whisper "fall"
Scrawled all in blood across the sky
We are the widows of the winter
to whom no spring shall ever dawn
We are a window to the future
The morrow's first polluted yawn
We are a dowry to destruction
In all the shouting we shall drown
We are the shadows of the good times
We are the echo, not the sound
Indolent we promenade across the page
Redolent of meaning lost and gone
Strewn about the airwaves of this new dark age
Still without our substance carry on
We are the widows
Praised - praised be our vanity
Now that we have our own tragedy
No time for subtlety
War is upon us, oh can't you see
Here in the holy land
See how united and strong we stand
Slogans and banners for every man
Here in the holy land
Death - death to the infidels
Sons of our servants shall serve and serve us well
And gifted with endless war
Behold I've come Ax in hand
To lay claim to this your land
Face me now I stand alone
Rightful heir to yonder throne
Fool! How dare you come here
With your insults and delusions
Guards! Behead this wretch
And fetch his ax for my collection
Good it is to taste this wine again
And fall upon the necks of mortal men
Drunk I am upon the blood of slaves
Kingly blood I deign to taste
"When the Ax is freed from hell
A single stroke shall break the spell
When the Ax is free again
Fool, I am no hero
So leave my casket be
Furthermore I'd never give my life
for such as thee
If the people wonder at the suffering you've caused
And your massive avarice has left them at a loss
If by chance they notice your bloody snapping jaws
the blood upon your claws
your shifty eyes and laws
the nauseating flaws in all you've said
Trot out the dead
Trot out the dead
If by chance they give you the slightest bit of grief
Or perhaps they notice you're a liar and a thief
If they dare to question your lunatic beliefs
The wicked web you weave
The slimy trail you leave
Or maybe they perceive they've been misled
Trot out the dead
Trot out the dead
Trot out the dead, trot out the dead
Fire up the burning pole while you're ahead
Blot out the truth, trot out the lies
Myriad eyes
Silence the wise
Shackle the skies
Stifle the cries of the soon to be dead
If the people wonder why so many had to die
Or they test the wisdom in your prevailing lie
Or how you let it happen when you knew it all the time
and you just let them fly
it's in your evil eye
the way they were betrayed the day they died
Trot out the dead
March ye trolls of wood and stone
March for now the way is shown
He who sits upon the throne
Is not a man but of our own
This road he built will show the way
To find the mortals we must slay
March ye trolls of wood and stone
March for now the way is shown
He who sits upon the throne
Is not a man but of our own
He who sits upon the throne
Is made of wood, wind and stone
March ye trolls of wood and stone
March for now the way is shown
This road he built will show the way
To find the mortals we must slay
He who sits upon the throne
Where were you? We faded out the other day
Make up new wounds to count and contemplate
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin'
Just for you and you alone
Lightning speed to nowhere it's your lucky day
Can't believe the nerve of that proceeding verse
Worse than where you are is that you got there first
Sure you can reverse
Turn a blessing to a curse
Lightning train to nowhere in the universe
Stressing every syllable of your complaint
Can't they tell the difference
Between passengers and freight?
Cursing the conductor then
We try our luck again
Lightning speed to nowhere but oblivion
Pictures play in place all day
They never leave their wall
They stand against it
And when they talk
They do so it can hear
For they know
That their wall has ears
All ears, all ears
Swatting at the smoke rings in the dining car
Speculation station is that where we are?
Plenty Of Conjecture
Would you like to give a lecture?
Lightning train to anywhere but very far
Lightning Speed to nowhere but obscurity
Only destination is the scenery
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin'
Just for you and you alone
Burn
Beneath a disgraced moon
Before it's May it's June
It is too late too soon
Freeze
Beneath a silent sun
(Don't look so stunned)
The deal is raw
The numbers are well done
The planes are well-adjusted as you type into the field
Hoods and shackles, sterile wings of steel
Soon a silver bird will come with rapture in its clause
To spirit and deposit you abroad
The models are corrected but the currency is strange
Nothing's different, everything has changed
They that trap themselves between the fields and the sea
Pray in vapors they can barely breathe
Burn
Beneath a disgraced moon
Before it's May it's June
It is too late too soon
Freeze
Beneath a silent sun
(Don't look so stunned)
The deal is raw
Did you see the Wood-child's gaze
See the ancient fire in his eyes?
Did you hear the Ax as it sang
Thirsting to drink the blood of a king?
Did you see it flash to and fro
Glowing with a life all its own?
Did you see the tyrant fall
Headless in the torchlit hall?
Did you see the wood child
Tear the crown
From the severed head
Of the king?
Did you see the Tyrant
On a stake in the village square?
Could it be the end
Has come at last?
Could this be the prophesy
Come to pass?
Back in the town they
Celebrate times to come.
Here in the wood we dance
Was it a dream?
Was it in Hell?
What is the difference?
I scarcely can tell
Is it just I
Or the world
That's gone mad?
This Vision insane, I'll explain, that I had...
Mourning for something
Something I've never known
I Search for a headstone
A Plot with a marker
But what did I find
In time?
Nothing but a blindness inside
And golden birds in the clouds of my eyes
Then a ghostly waif did arrive
And demanded:
"Who will love or listen to me now?
What lost urchin searches for my poor disfigured ghost?"
And so a Grave I did find
In time
Not one of the dead
But voices echoing in my head
They said:
Standing condemned
The trial commenced
None to defend her and no evidence
Vaguely aware Of her hands in their chains
Heedless of all that the chamber contained
The sentence was passed
The barristers laughed
When they had killed her they cut her in half
When golden birds flew
Out from her severed halves
They trapped them to sell to the gathered riff-raff
All the ghosts had gone unnoticed there
They haunted
Every corner of the court and
Outside in the square they waited
Golden feathers now in their tin cages
Waving farewell to the shades as they brought her to
This place where only memories can breathe
She sits sewn together and scarcely bereaved
Unheard she sings an unearthly lament
This prophecy has two meanings,
You see there is:
One for the Boatman, one for the stream,
One for the dreamer, and one for the dream,
One for the victim, and one for the blade,
One for the blood, and the sacrifice made...
One for the Boatman, one for the stream,
One for the dreamer, and one for the dream,
One for the victim, and one for the blade,
I occupy this throne
For only spiteful reasons
The only kingdom known
To me is out there
My forest calls to me
Amongst her leaves and grasses
As calm and callow
As the springtime air
This keeps no home for me
Unholy sanctuary
These castle walls
Can't keep my spirit in
These people don't love me
I don't belong amongst them
They want a king and I want
Please hold your applause, though you may pause for genuflection
As so deftly we're directing your attention
To this hand my left or is it right, no need to analyze
the sentiment and scope of our correctness
Please remain seated as the spectacle repeats itself
ad nauseum (that's latin for "relentless")
Don't you lose your focus as we orchestrate these locust years
My dears, the show is bound to leave you breathless
You paid admission, now the ride's begun, guaranteed to
leave you groping for the gears in this mad machine of tears
Now that we're unchained
we'll reign, insane
and drown the world in flames
and blood, and pain
Our legion eyes and ears
will amplify your fears
in a wilderness of mirrors
in these new Locust Years
Our timeline spins unbroken
Like the webs that we have woven
As the show unfolds like clockwork on command
Are those horsemen knocking?
Or the ticking and the tocking of the Watch?
We are the face, we are the hands
Sirens bay like mares at night, Sirens howl like wolves
But it's all right for the show has just begun
Now that we're unchained
we'll reign, insane
and drown the world in flames
and blood, and pain
Our legion eyes and ears
will amplify your fears
in a wilderness of mirrors
in these new Locust Years
Now that we're unchained
we'll reign, insane
The pain will flow like wine
in time to find
us drunk upon your tears
and feasting on your fears
sharpening our spears
Sky is overcast
Old man of the sails
Summoning to mass
Terns upon the rails
By some mystic means
Of changing gulls to kings
Old man had a way
So the seagulls sang
Chorus
Our hoard has been abducted by a common draft
Old craft of mine
And left us on a raft
Goodbye ye kings in the sky
Our stand has been abandoned by the rubes we crossed
Ships in the sky
And left us at a loss
Ye old craft of mine
Our vessel has been boarded by a common craft
Ships in the sky
And left us on a raft
So long ye old craft of mine
Our channels are abandoned and the craft is lost
Ships in the sky
Left with an Albatross
Cursed flock descending
Terns upon the rails
Charmed by instruments and charts
Compasses and scales
Din is overwhelming
Screaming mob will find
So as they have made us deaf
The old man made them blind
By some scheme or sorcery
The ship had taken flight
Capsized by the moon and strewn
Its wreckage through the night
See gulls all the same
Searching for the rails
Summoning in vain
Old man of the sails
Still they dive and sing
Of becoming kings
Old man now they say
Lives far below the waves
Chorus
So long, ye old craft of mine
Far from the ridges and rivers we crossed
So in our wandering we're lost
Far from the shores, the mountains and hills
Nothing but dust moving still
Try to forget the leaves and the shade
Focus instead on the time we made
Now the horizon is nothing but sand
So we have reached the deserted land
But the grain is so fine
In your teeth in your time
But the grain is precise
In your veins, in your eyes
Nought but the sand and the night-fallen stars
Only the cold desert moon
Sound of your voice is so shocking and strange
Suddenly so out of tune
Oh how the sound of our hearts beating down
The gusting and howling will drown
There is no shade but the shadow of you
Lost in the dust of the dunes
But the grain is so fine
In your teeth in your time
But the grain is so nice
In the veins of your eyes
But the grain in the breeze
Is like fire in the trees
But the grain is precise
I am the maelstrom's deafening song
The ether through which the fallen descend
I am the frightful dance of the flames
The pain of creation and violent end
I am the sculptor of wreckage and ruin
The creator and destroyer of all
Where is the sacrifice unto my shrine?
Where is the blood I took for my wine?
Now I sleep in nether darkness
Dream with wolves in cold betrayal
Breathe in storms and turn the seasons
Through this curse of mortal treason
Who dares disturb my slumber
Ages and eons of sleep without number
The spell is broken my fury unleashed
The Dragon is summoned,
The mark of the beast
Who is this sprig off a fallen tree
Thus is a creature created by me
Manifest is this deathly vision
I give you life to carry a mission
Speak in tongues of spheres in blackness
Cross the stars with dark recitals
Turn the wheels of catasrophis
The forest lends its life to me
And loyal to her oaken creed
On her ethereal wind I rove
Up above the race I loathe
My roots are flesh and blood
But supple as the soil they suck
A bastard sapling When winter
Calls me down and brings me life
And when the nights falling down on me
I watch the demons fly
I wake the trees and give them speech
Their words teach me the ills of mankind
Walk this path and feel my pain
For this hatred and disdain
My birth is still a mystery
Unto the skies and the earth I plead
An explanation for this curse
Be it gold, be it dirt
I feel a darkness drawing near
Barbaric voices invade my kingdom
Lurking shadows follow me
Of a man I cannot see
The earth casts shadows on this race
I claim no party to this disgrace
To bear his form and not his mind
Seems as though the PTA has finally conquered Rome
They're gonna charge admission and enclose it in a dome
Now it's just a theme park and the rides are over-priced
Maybe you can run the one that used to be your life
TICs and refugees are scattered far and wide
And many tales are told about the day The City died
Painted ladies faint before the speculator's eye
The gravy boat will always float until the bay runs dry
and everybody sighed
and gets all misty eyed
about the day the city died
This one's called I'm moving to Oakland
This one's called I'm moving to Portland
This one's called I'm moving to Brooklyn now
Prospectors and pushers still conspire to subdivide
And many tales are told about the day The City died
Skinny dips on crystal ships sail through the Golden Gate
I left my heart in a shopping cart at the bottom of the Bay
and everybody sighed
and gets all misty eyed
about the day the city died
This one’s called I’m getting addicted
This one’s called I’m getting evicted
This one’s called another one moving away
This one's called I’m moving to Austin
This one's called I'm moving to London
This one's called somewhere in L.A.
This one’s called I’m moving to Boston
This one’s called I’m moving to Berlin
This one’s called I’m off to Savannah, GA
This one’s called I’m moving to Glasgow
This one’s called I’m moving to Moscow
Of unholy fire forged
And by inhuman hands created
You're free now!
Blessed with endless lust for blood
My appetite cannot be sated
You're free now!
Seven thousand kings I've slain
And seven thousand years I've waited
You're free now!
When the light of the moon
Is reflected in red
When there's blood on the stone
In the sacred event
Costly, the light of the moon
Saturated in red
So you think that you know me
Just like those below me
And you think that your wise
With those big, wide open eyes
So you won't play along, no
You say that it's wrong, oh
And you're seeing right through me
And you dare to accuse me
So you no longer love me
And you think your above me
Yet you run when your able
To fetch scrap from my table
So you've got me confounded
But I've got you surrounded
Where, where indeed
Will you turn when you're in need?
If I'm a lie, and maybe it's true
Still it is I that created you
And when you die, I'd have you believe
That even your ghost is shackled to me
As are those who bear your memory
Within you live my manufactured dreams
Soon we'll be repackaging your quaint rebellious schemes
Within this august engine's power
To vindicate or to devour
As armies march and temples tower
Our golden glory shines before before you
Our golden road opens for you
Leave all your troubles far behind you
And in Winter she cried
December tears
And in Summer she cried
August tears
And in Autumn she cried
November tears
And in Springtime she cried
April tears
On the fat of the land
The sacred calf, the fatted lamb
Cry Cassandra, while you can
The salted earth, a grain of sand
These salty eyes don’t understand
Soon there won’t be time to cry
Buried up to her film-projector eyes
And in Winter she cried
December tears
And in Summer she cried
August tears
And in Autumn she cried
November tears
And in Springtime she cried
April tears
But now she hasn’t any tears to spare
So she doesn’t cry at all
Sing Cassandra, all night long
now she knows what eyes are for
now she knows what tears are for
now she knows that summers gone
now she’ll squander tears no more
Chairs were mahogany crystal was set
Finest of victuals wealth can beget
Table and Chairmen were gathered around
Portraits of patriarchs glowering down
Staring....
Heads of the families save one that was missed
20-ton specter was not on the list
Freshly cut flowers and straw in the breeze
Obvious octopus nobody sees
Staring...
And as the Chairman
Appears at the door
The specter is elsewhere
The 31st floor
An obstacle course
Of the finest decor
One ear to the bell
One eye on the door
Staring...
Racing his thoughts and fighting the tape
Pacing the cell as his fate takes the shape
Of a 20-ton specter who's not on the list
Too big to fall too bad to be missed just
Costly, the light of the moon
Saturated in red
Cast the blood on the stone
My Sacrifice
Blood sacrifice
Wood-Demons:
Spare the horses
Spare the bats
Spare the chickens,
Dogs and cats
Spare the oxen
Spare the plant
Lofty dove and
Lowly ant
When the Ax is free again
The mortal's cursed reign shall end
Slay the ones who chop and cut
Slay them in their wooden huts
Slay the ones who slay the birds
Slay the ones who speak with words
Slay the ones with tools and games
Slay the ones who's gods have names
Wood-Demons:
Spare the horses
Spare the bats
Spare the chickens,
Dogs and cats
Spare the oxen
Spare the plant
Lofty dove and
Lowly ant
When the Ax is free again
The mortal's cursed reign shall end
And as I watch the slaughter
My kingdom swiftly ends
I recognize the slayers
They are my childhood friends
The blood-ax strangely silent
As all these mortals die
Together we could save them
But I've no will to try
Why...???
Of the wood you are
Soil and dust you are
Of the Stone you are
Wind and rain you are
Not of human mind
Nor of mortal life
Yes you are my son
And your work is done
See me as the creator
Of your destiny
You have a void to fill
Full with your elusive life
You are He!!!
Someone call the water
It’s freezing up the spokes
Like any deal or device
It worked until it broke
Whistle past the graveyard
Where the river runs uphill
Let us juice the roundheels
No ink is gonna spill
Your insiders - Newborn spiders
Starve the sentry - Clear re-entry
Thoroughbreds who should be dead
Run faster ‘round the track
All the swans down at the pond
Are turning turning black
Crumpled up and sodden
Receipts upon the floor
Trodden on and trampled in
The stampede to the door
Dance between the raindrops
And cue the violins
All the river-boaters know
A makeshift parlour game
Of treachery and shame
A nest of sin and vice
Informant's paradise
All ears and all the same
The rat's assembly line
We work in shifts then rest
Our ears are always fresh
For every bird a song
Sure as your life is long
A bird for every jail
For every rat his tale
Some friends of yours we met
Have echoed our request
The table has been set
And you're the honored guest
Article 128 could hardly be more clear
By order of the council you are always welcome here
You remind me of the wine
Not running out tonight
No need to check the time
No difference day or night
Judgment has her kiln and justice her baton
The people have their will and truth her blindfold on
Article 128 could hardly be more clear
By order of the council you are always welcome here
Windows are nothing but glass, so easily shattered
Shutters are nothing but wood, so easily cut
Walls are but plaster and lath, no match for a hammer
Spirits are nothing but fires, so easily snuffed
All ears and all the time
The rat's assembly line
We work in shifts then rest
Our ears are always fresh
Some friends of yours we met
Have echoed our request
The table has been set
And you're the honored guest
Article 128 could hardly be more clear
By order of the council you are always welcomed here
Long as you're still breathing you can sign the questionnaire
Rain, rain , rain
A thousand tiny drops upon the pane
Marching in their millions toward the drain
And whose to say those drops are all the same?
Against the shutters, splash and down they go
Into the Gutters, or to rivers flow
Rain, rainy day
On rooftops or on treetops either way
The curbsides and the creek beds know the way
To turn these drops to streams that flow away
To fill the rivers, bound by banks and shores
Or to the sewer, down the gutter's course
Drawn by weeds in stagnant pools of mud
Or tossed in torrents, agents of the flood
To lay to rest in placid lake
Or raging for a dam to break
I have come to answer your fears
I have come to make good on a promise
I am the whisper that gives you a reason
For all your feelings of hatred and treason
He left you fighting for your life
A bastard son he soon forgot
He raped and destroyed the village
No regard for the life he pillaged
On the throne there sits a villain
And for this now you must kill him
On wings of Vengeance
Fly forth my son
To claim your right as
Chosen One!
Now I understand what is my history
It's no surprise
From a king given to treachery
My destiny
I am the rightful heir to the throne
You left your son Forsaken
Turn the wheels of Catastrophis
Fly my spear your name is Vengeance!
My destiny
I am the rightful heir to the throne
You left your son Forsaken
Turn the wheels of Catastrophis
Fly my spear your name is Vengeance!
On wings of Vengeance
Fly forth my son
To claim your right as
Chosen One!
My destiny
I am the rightful heir to the throne
Again I wake up to your end, your ways and means
I watch your machinations seamless on the screen
I turn away again but still your always there
Your vacant, automatic smile is everywhere
The bright procession flashes past
In 2 dimensions under glass
The smile that lies between the lines
Luminous the union beams
Between the gods and their machines
The numb seduction of the blind
Sacrosanct the rank and file
Of perfect angels passes by
To modify the mind's desire
And no 3rd dimension troubles this
Procession where there's no abyss
In which there burns a fire
So you will jinx us with your trinkets and your tricks
Your malcontented ravings and your razor bladed wits
Go on you little clown and do your very worst
Go ahead and starve to death, or satisfy your thirst
The bright procession flashes past - Bad little insects find it tricky to survive
In 2 dimensions under glass
The smile that lies between the lines
Luminous the union beams - As they infest the sickest segments of the hive
Between the gods and their machines
The numb seduction of the blind
Sacrosanct the rank and file - Though we might whisper pretty words from time to time
Of perfect angels passes by
To modify the mind?s desire
And no 3rd dimension troubles this - They'll get no honey like the ones who stay in line
Procession where there's no abyss
In which there burns a fire
So yet another preconception dead ahead
A winning grimace and a gnawing sense of dread
Wednesday and the wolves are at the door
Goldilocks is dizzy smelling war
Beyond the bitter end
Nothing left to send
From on high the chamber can observe
Scale of the sentence to be served
Balance of your life
Spend it catching knives
Wednesday is grey again
Can you remember when she smiled
When will she smile again?
When the till is nil you'll take the store
When the lake runs dry you'll take the shore
Yes you taught us well
See you all in hell
Grey Wednesday cloudy skies
When the horizon lies in bed
Can't face another day
Grey Wednesday walks away
No love to send today she said
Shanks’ mare, threadbare
Saturnine pace
Never quite there
What is this place?
Where did you wake up?
Going Somewhere?
Picking a path through a ruined estate
Where did you end up?
Going Somewhere?
Wandering through a forsaken domain
There was a door, but not anymore my friend
Now there is only a road
we take to the end
Before this wreck
Will sail again
There was a chance, a circumstance left to defend
Now there is only a road
We take to the end
Until this wreck
Can sail again
Things once so plain
Now seem so out of place
Transformed landscape
Trail of those displaced
This wreck will sail again
I have come to collect on a bargain
Now you must make good on your promise
For the Ax, the source of your power
An oath you swore in that black abyss
Build a great road to the forest
Use the ax to strike the first tree
Wide and straight into the village
Only then will you appease me
Now I understand all of your treachery
How could this be.. This evil destiny?
How could you ask this of me?
(You swore)
My sacred forest home
(To me)
The only thing in this life
(Do this)
That I can call my own
(For me)
Cursed is the day I met you
(I lied)
Cursed is this wretched throne
(To you)
I'll Take this life you ask me
(What can)
And then I'll take my own
(You do?)
Sing us a song, a song called how did it all go wrong
Sing even though we haven't spoken for oh so long
Sing for tongues are encumbered by their own eyes
And weary of leering, twisting and winding from side to side
Pray give us fields with bountiful yields for the coming frost
Teach us to toil, the lore of the soil that we have lost
Spare us alas for our seasons have sown only great expectations and rust
Only in labor and sun-beaten backs can we place our trust
Show us the field and weapons to wield for the coming war
Let us redress celestial sentence we've waited for
Trenches or furrows, soldier or harvester, sword or ploughshare
A field and a summer, one or another, we're buried there
Spin us a yarn of common place charm oh so far away
Rustic emotion, artless devotion, naiveté
Give us a game, the rules and the fools who refuse to play
See through the window, the city goes by
Streets full of suckers with dimes in their eyes
Heads full of sediment, buzzing with flies
Helplessly dreading the next big surprise
Escorting friendlies, a walk in the park
Unlock the cages as soon as it's dark
Motorcade motorcade easy to mark
Send in the snipers to swim with the sharks
Breadline is burning, the headcount's a joke
Soon they'll be feasting on mirrors and smoke
Motorcade motorcade horses to show
Fish in a barrel and ducks in a row
Pheasants in Fields to be hunted and plucked
Such is their ration of sixpenny luck
The party's decorum is crucial tonight
Scatter the parasites, vermin and blight
Motorcade motorcade easy to mark
Send in the snipers to swim with the sharks
Motorcade motorcade horses to show
Fish in a barrel and ducks in a row
Motorcade motorcade easy to mark
Hands upon harrows
Heels in the weeds
Starving and harvesting
Down centuries
Pheasants in fields to be hunted and plucked
Such is their ration of sixpenny luck
Multinous Мужикѕ
Who mutter in tongues
They frighten the horses
Of fortunate sons
Absent the rustics, what have they become?
Only on Sunday their tears weakly run
More or less murder?
One simple order
It's just history's whisper
A secret to leave in the field
Hands upon harrows and heels in the weeds
Treason and guillotines, gallows and thieves
Angular hayseeds once furrowed this land
Picturesque reapers with skeletal hands
Proles are more portly now, mouths open wide
Tipping the scales we so kindly provide
Skeletal hands were our strata's delight
Famine always hangs his lamp
Above the holy land
Hangs his lamp, he hangs his lamp
Above the holy land
Pestilence will pitch his tent
Upon the promised land
Pitch his tent, he'll pitch his tent
Upon the promised land
Death will always break his bread
within the temple walls
Break his bread, he'll break his bread
Within the temple walls
War will always find his mistress
In the highest tower
Find her waiting, find her waiting
Thought I had a prayer down in this church
Of broken glass
But I awoke
To find myself asleep
And in glass, my soul to keep
Close-up of the floor down in this church
Of broken glass
Somewhere to pray
And spend all night
Strangling all day
So the fire expires this way
I thought I heard your voice down in this church
Of broken glass
So I returned
And the faithful still remained
But of you I heard no trace
But there's thirst to slake
And vows to break
And the fire expires this way
So soon the moon will come unfold her robe of constellations
And for a time the night was mine in endless fascination
But now she brings me only shadows and a host of memories
Marching on
Endlessly
Like a ghostly brigade
Marching on - Doomed parade
But now she's gone away (She was here)
Forever, I'm afraid (She was real)
No longer shall the night, from the sun
Provide its blessed shade
I saw her with my eyes (She was real)
I touched her with my hands (She was here)
Right here in this room it was She whispered in my ear
Lost forever... to hell.
Here is a wound, To go with your uniform
Here is a message, you'll never forget
Back in your tomb, reaping your true reward
The path you have chosen, you'll learn to regret
"Sleep, angel sleep.
Be not a ghost trapped in the light
Be as the day, and pass away
Into the night."
The night moves like a glacier, slow and cold
Yet rage takes over as I see the plan unfold
So that's your game, to take away the only friend I?ve ever made
In this place
How we laughed
At the ghostly brigade
Marching on - Doomed parade
I must say I'm impressed
Such cruelty in a jest
Oh chastity
you spoke so clearly
Holding the reins of your steed high and mighty
One voice, two faces, three kings, and four horsemen
Delighting our eyes, silver strings in the moonlight
Oh sanctity
Tiny eyes like diamonds
You glide in the sky in your saddle so high
One voice, two faces, three kings, and four horsemen
Sway through the air on strings straight from heaven
Chastity rides on a horse oh so high
The spotlight found another fool
The crowd has gone away
There's a shabby sunset
At the end of your big day
A joker in your finest hour
With aces up your sleeve
The clock has struck - you're out of luck
And now it's time to leave
Time to rest my clever friend
But first we must take flight
Time to find where jesters nest
When day turns into night
There's a place, if we make haste
Where we can hdie away
Watch our shabby sunset
At the end of our big day
Chorus
Everything is concrete now
Concrete is the queen whose kingdom crumbles down
In Butchertown
Everything is metal now
Metal is the king whose crown is melted down
In Butchertown
Something in the air down here
Describe it if I could
I don't know what it is
But I know it isn't good
Something in the air down here
I wish could explain
I don't know what it is
But I know it isn't same
Long I have journeyed and far I have roamed
Weary of searching, I rest by a stone
Then without warning the earth swallowed me
Falling through blackness forever it seemed
Where is this I find myself now?
I hear a voice, familiar somehow...
"Come hither, Come hither"
The voice cries to me
Blind in the darkness then what do I see?
The vision of my dream
Floating in liquid flame
Silently beckons me
Across this hellish plain
With dragon's wings she stands
Blood-thirsty ax in hand.
What Brings you to this deathly land?
What do you seek in the land of the damned?
Searching and Searching I finally find
Give me the Ax and let vengeance be mine!
Make me a promise and so it shall be
Swear on your life-blood and so it shall be
Strike me a bargain you cannot betray
Then you may have it and take it away
We'll meet again and you'll do what I ask
Anything I wish no matter the task
This fire that burns inside
It must be satisfied
Burns me to sleep at night
Burns me at dawn's first light
This oath I take and swear
Walking 'round
Eyes upon the ground
For something might be found
Always looking down
Look around
It's one big lost and found
So I'm always looking down
Eyes upon the ground
Chorus
Fearlessness is careless unless
You've got nothing left to lose
Or leave behind
Your noblesse oblige
Is neither wise nor kind
Casual indifference is
My rational self interest
I'm your shadow now
And what is yours is mine
Worms we live like
In the dirt
For worms we have become
Thin and on the run
We the parasites
Will always follow you
We'll never be untrue
For what else can we do?
Rats we live like
In the wells
Or hiding underground
Fearful of the sound
Those who fly
Own the sky
But they're always looking down
Eyes upon the ground
Hanging bones like paper dolls
And posing by museum walls
A forest of quotation marks
Where minnows masquerade as sharks
And every line is well rehearsed
And everyone in line is first it's
Chorus
Almost like you really care
Almost like you really hear
Almost like you're really there
Almost like you're really here
Dressed just like a skeptic
But you tow the party line
You have no dialectic but
You know the secret sign
And every line is well rehearsed
And everyone in line is first it's
Chorus
Outskirts and concentric rings
follow you they follow you
Shallow cuts and childish things
follow you they follow you
Scratch the surface just like this
follow you it followed you
Shadows of a class dismissed
followed you it followed you
While it's no surprise I'll try to be
Kind to your disguise just another
Plot to subdivide passenger
Just waiting for a ride down around the
Corner now they say that you never
Ever saw the train leave without you
Try to place a call to that picture
Hanging on the wall same old message
No one there at all there's no answer
Scripture known by rote by this time there's
Nothing left to quote but your skin a
Scribbled sheet for notes incoherent
Chorus
Charm will steal your time
So: the candle has passed through a portal
Stayed by a sentry as I try to follow
Changing my cloak to a gown to gain entry
There in the center its bearer awaits
In a circular chamber of doors
Guarded by shadowy forms
There in the middle; a room and a riddle She fades away...
There where she was
A golden bird did appear
Briefly I heard the song of that bird
And then it too disappeared
Traded my cloak for a gown; look around It's the same as these guardians wear
Faces obscured, still undisturbed With their doors in this circular lair
The silence eventually broke
In one voice, the guardians spoke
There in the middle; a room and a riddle Surrounded thus
" An oath to be sworn and a robe to be worn
Now you're one of us!"
Sentries and doors!
Guard with your life
Behind each door:
We are the soil becoming dust
We are the chrome becoming rust
We are the ones you’re standing on
We are the floor you dance upon
We are the wheels
We are the rails
We are the wires
We are the nails
We are the game
We are the loss
We hang upon
Seventeenth Street
Ruthless! Ruthless!
Look through the window no one is there
No one is watching and nobody cares
All of your wishes and all of your prayers
Dead in the letters down on the stairs
Dreaming in the counting house
Watching the price per ounce
Dreaming in the counting house
Watching the dead cats bounce
Seventeenth Street
Ruthless! Ruthless!
In chapter seven surrounded by thieves
A thousand cuts later by chapter thirteen
There is a place for you somewhere they say
Down on the sidewalk or far far away
predator, I am game
Citizen is my name
Haunting a shadow house
Watching the dead cats pounce
Seventeenth Street
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