Dignity and Shame

Cover me in mud and leaves I won't be the one to fail you I'm a thousand gargoyles standing by your window To be sure there ain't no cure There could be no one to save you When the bad boys come to do you in again So when they tell you things that you don't want to know Or take you back to places you don't want to go You've got to bury that knife Keep your face in the light Because there's one thing that they cannot do Is take from you what you keep in mud and leaves And if you walk, walk away, Save yourself, you've got something to lose And if you give what they take, you can bet they will take it from you You're not the same as the day that you came You can choose dignity or shame You've got to bury your bones where you want in the ground Where they will not be found by the leeches you're keeping alive There's a man in your hand And he's got nothing good to sell you And he's smashing a violin against your bed To be sure there ain't no cure He comes creeping back to beg you As thousand gargoyles crash into his head And then that feeling comes you've been here once before That wicked feeling you don't want to feel no more You've got to bury that knife That you keep stuck in your side Before they dig that knife into you And break into what you keep out of their reach And if you walk, walk away, save yourself, you've got nothing to prove And if you give what they take, you can bet they will take it from you You're not the same as the day that you came You can choose dignity or shame You've got to carry your heart like a torch in the night Little keeper of light burning deep, burning bright in the dark