Virgin Black
      Virgin Black

1. 	Veil Of Tears

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 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 and undisturbed

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 ways
Two Hells I've found,
Two deaths I'll die
Mere fools here remain


2. 	Black Corsage


3. 	Mother Of Cripples

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 vexations
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 within your likeness, precious am I?

The glare of a sinking flame binds me to my clay...

Offerings of flowers I rest in the earth
My body will lie uncared and unwept


4. 	Anthem

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
You shared flesh with me, danced with me...

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