Choir

Here the dark Madonna In golden chains of fire With flesh like sunburnt varnish A tapestry of scars She stalks the unlit corners She haunts my room at night That I might use my eyelids As a shield against her light For her, the sweet Behemoth That slavers while it grins With fangs of burnished copper And milk beneath its skin Along with fierce Leviathan Who walks below the waves Have laid their jaws upon your lap To rest beneath your grace These fiery beasts of heaven That burn the surface clean Will render hell in shades of amber Black, and emerald green The whispered words of tourniquets Come spilling through the gauze To split the crackling plasma With soft and tender claws (tender claws, tender claws) Something shines behind their eyes Something deep inside And when they've stripped me to the bone There's nothing left to hide Behold this spoiling carcass That swings before you now Who's bound in rags and rubber bands And strung up to your boughs I wander through your garden On bones of broken glass To chew your shining halo With teeth of molten wax I hide between the shadows Of your homemade oubliette I know they're out to get me But they haven't got me yet I hope she sings forever In silver notes of woe For when the dirge is over We go to ground alone