Unforgiven

In the villages there are more Dead than are living The careful quiet lives of the unforgiven Secrets buried deep beneath the stones And the bones And the motorbikes and oil stains from Ride-by killings Mary's piercing gaze from the stained- Glass window Framed in heaven's light above the Flickering candles They tried to make a sanctuary here When the slavers came But the doors were forced, they were Dragged away in chains From the wild island with its god Unforgiving His mouth is gaping sky, broken teeth Made of mountain The tombs of the families layered one Upon another Blood feuds and accidents, sister, Brother Nobody's passed through these Rusting gates for a hundred years Or more Where the flowers grow from solid rock On the wild island with its god Unforgiving His mouth is gaping sky, broken Teeth made of mountain Sharp like the crushed shells strewn Along the shore Sharp like the knives and the wedding Clothes Sharp as the light pouring from the sky Sharp as the truth when you cannot Tell it all The more dazzling the light, the darker Is the shadow You chose an overgrown path for us To follow It led us up and up through the Whispering trees But we will never find what's buried Here On the wild island with its god Unforgiving His mouth is gaping sky, black, Broken teeth made of mountain We take the wild roads, you and I Gasp for breath round every corner Here in the humming air, high Above the blue water Still unforgiven We're still unforgiven