VIRGIN BLACK Sombre Romantic (2001) 1. Opera De Romance 2. Walk Without Limbs 3. Of Your Beauty 4. Drink The Midnight Hymn 5. Museum Of Iscariot 6. Lamenting Kiss 7. Weep For Me 8. I Sleep With The Emperor 9. A Poet's Tears Of Porcellan 10. Opera De Trance 11. Whispers Of Dead Sisters 12. Veil Of Tears 13. Mother Of Cripples 14. Anthem 1. Opera De Romance [in a different language] 2. Walk Without Limbs Shei masa fum de ma Walk without limbs Shei masa fum de ma Walk through my soul 3. Of Your Beauty Wearing robes of solemnity My senses stand erect This moment I am solitary As you watch me, eyeless Observe a brutal face I need silence, I need to be alone Look at me My bony fingers wrapped in rags I am pursued and love is withered My eyes will see, if my spirit lives The wind shouts its commands The earth has stopped my ears I dare not raise my hand To hold the stones around my throat I have heard of your beauty And would sacrifice my days These midnight wanderings And vain laments Pour upon me A sympathetic glance My splendour has gone you will find me face down let those days pass in sorrowful procession Among leafless groves May a leaf unfold I cry with rage To be remembered with pity Let the leaves unfold Where dead leaves have rotted Ask me what I suffer Years of fruitless clinging to enfeebled arms That wave of benevolent salute I have heard of your beauty Pursue me, beckon me to cast the stones from my throat in the earth's dark entrails My glazed eyes close forever My my eyes will see If my spirit lives 4. Drink The Midnight Hymn Under a serene sky Earth covers your gentle form in verdant fields Soul is reft from bodies To my head I raise A wreath of white flowers And cry "Unhappiness" My mournful valediction I drink deep into your soul Killed with hate You died with love The cry of my heart The cry of my soul Dreamless sleeper Your face, the grave will change Your blood poured liked your saviour's I drink the midnight hymn 5. Museum Of Iscariot Jesus lies dying in my bed Companions since birth... in this stagnant dingy haunt he never really lived. Last night I beat him as he would not leave My insane eyes stare at him as his welted body bleeds Frequently I rape him as I know nothing else He curls up like a fetus and paints his face with sadness Now a fragment of remorse has etched I bandage his wounds, I kiss the face of Jesus Christ but he is dead What can I do? You have forsaked me, called yourself messiah, expected me to follow But now he is dead and his prophecies with him I will bury him not as insult to your face as I stare at his corpse one detail disturbs me His cold stark finger points where I have not been... From my house, a cage of rotten wood I stumble forth to lay beneath the bush withered bones groan, I cultivate as the soil and I grow closer The sun receives an empty gaze it mourns it knows my life is gone No more to offer but my flesh to this soil and a single tear marks my final prayer a rosebud sits in the palm of your hand as I end this flower it blossoms 6. Lamenting Kiss A child was born in silence And winter rose to clothe itself With a voice of one who weeps I curse this memory You held the hand of hope With glory's wreath And deceiver's promise The vows your lips have sworn Tomorrow wear decay Stifled sobs Bow to cold laughter The breeze is speechless As the dust drinks the dew A child-like hope With fear betrothed Never ceases to kiss my feet This is my final lamenting kiss I have spun my last thread My dreams have broke My jewels are tarnished The wailings of the heart Are with the unborn Dreams of poetry It is cold within My knotted hand strikes A tuneless chord The noise of tongues In my darkened labyrinth Prophesies are withered To a face careworn Why have I forsaken you? The dove so long imprisoned Sour remembrance Of a day never born My retreating steps Are clothed in shadows Laden in black A man foresworn Heaven wept For the wounds that bled Tears more bitter than blood Vex my soul I am thrown on your mercies Yet my heart is still hardened Weep for me, my god, weep for me Sooth my grief Through my artless prayers My tears burden your aching soul I held hope's hand But let her forsake me May I be faithful to hold onto yours To my god of darkness my sombre romantic 7. Weep For Me 8. I Sleep With The Emperor I shivered in the warmth of their god Yet this mansion is haunted by romance His servants heal my scars Anointing me with oil I am naked and silk on this eve His body will cradle his bride's in frailty as I await his kiss mortality ebbs from me The pendulum sings Twelve times it rings I sleep with the emperor 9. A Poet's Tears Of Porcellan As tears again bedew my cheek To your knees I cling Oh merciful one Show me your glory Was I not bruised? Have you not healed? They dance to silence But your song I hear Holy lord, fathomless god tears flow But the water is sweet Holy lord, fathomless god I fall as one dead With quivering lips Blessed be, priest and friend All Heavens bow In admiration Fathomless depth Measureless height Great is your holiness 10. Opera De Trance [bonus track] Silence, my child And bear your gifts of love Feed me, feed me Your drops of angel's blood When will my body live? When will my body begin to live? "It will live when you die You will die when you drink Of the highest priest" 11. Whispers Of Dead Sisters [bonus track] Whispers to me, my depression With a hint of murder Watch them, the angels are forlorn Watch them, they share my soul I hide my face to cry Why do I feel this kiss upon me? I crave your presence but the priests are pointing at me They have made me your betrayer But I whisper your name in the dark Anger rests on my fingertips A place where God (I am told) no longer lives A mass of flesh they love to beat But not without identity On scabby knees I continue to crawl The sores are open and blood trails behind Rocks and stones meld into my skin My body is a home for plagues I hope the paradise is good, it must be But the turbulence makes me brittle I cannot see I find myself holding hatred, it clings to me I killed a man in my mind, I wanted him dead Yes I have faith, Yes I am saved But it doesn't stop my misery It doesn't stop my hatred It doesn't stop me wanting to die Yet I'm still here despite the pain I refuse to believe I was called to suffer... I was called... to prosper. 12. Veil Of Tears [bonus track] Walk my dismal path pursue my much walked ways two hells i've found two deaths i'll die mere fools choose to stay shut out the sky in this (already) darkened room as i prepare myself for slumber where the weary are at rest scraps of acrid marrow dried and whitened spine wasting of the limbs abbreviated death such a bitter satire I'm content to rest alone leave me here and i will lie composed an dundisturbed oh where can i find sorrow to relieve me of my grief i've shut my eyes to God above and walked my dismal way i've drunk the dregs of a wooden cup i've trampled on His blood i've smeared Him in my arrogance i grieve i can't turn back walk my dismal path pursue my much walked way two hells i've found two deaths i'll die mere fools here remain. 13. Mother Of Cripples [bonus track] A restless shadow of a fiddler's elbow plays a tune to staggering feet the burden of his songs the looking glass scorns at this disfigured odious face indeed alone hugging my breast the sun i neglect in darkness i roam offerings of flowers on a barren grave where my body will lie uncared and unwept idle bait, my shawl on the lattice someone may see it perhaps look my way no thread of sympathy unites me to man i lay softly down once again within my aged walls taunts and vexatious fragments of a tune play most mournfully with sadness in my voice i break the solemn stillness my drooping head falls on languid hands Ancient of days Creator of life from the womb You have formed me my vile sight You love covered by Your shadow held within Your hand made in Your likeness precious am i the glare of a sinking flame binds me to my clay indeed alone hugging my breast the sun i neglect in darkness i roam offerings of flowers i rest in the earth my body will lie uncared and unwept. 14. Anthem [bonus track] You shared flesh with me danced with me in the ancient circle of birth life and death but You live again while autumn leaves fall in the summer of my life it is the millstone around the neck of us all but You wore it like a crown weaving to the shrill that makes cowards of us all but to You it was harmony You knew shame like no other You tasted death like no other You shed tears like no other man this incarnation repelled me but threw me to my knees could i be anything but a moth to the flame Your cross compels me You are the breath that gives me life You are mystery You are beauty You are the risen Christ.