Heart in hand passed to the clasp of pain
   In a dark lowland that set bad blood in veins
   Burning, like penal fires roused to stain
   The jagged-toothed skyline braced with crosses
  
   The golden dawn
   Lay lost to mist where
   Emboldened thorns
   Made their bed with toppled stones
  
   He closed His eyes
   Sunken to dream there
   Of crow-black skies
   And a great white empty throne
   Horror stalked the bilious fogs
   That balked His vision
  
   He licked the spittle from the cheeks of the wry
   And drifted back to when His stung it's target
   The sneer of Michael on a glorious high
   Of angel dust and Virtue by his side
  
   Drowning in the past
   That downfall seemed like yesterday
   Though blurred moons passed
   As enemies in high places laughed
  
   Moved to mirrors cracked with heavy lines
   He rose snowblind, though shifting sands of time
   Erased the trace and taste of bitter wines
   The grapes of wrath grew fat on the vine
  
   She came to Him
   A little whip of tantrums
   Thrashed on velvet skins
   That lined Her wishbone Henge
  
   Her name was Sin
   A warming spurt of mantras
   Splashed on occult tongues
   That whispered sweet revenge
  
   For the shame of their crawl from grace
   Cold and hollow as the grave
  
   And for the rape and ruinous scourge
   Spared for souls that had shared
   God's worship
   For now their throats coated notes with dirge
   That poured from parapets to the pits below
  
   Drowning in the past
   A wretched scream like yesterday
   Died at last
   With the rising of the revenant dark
  
   "I shall bow no more to the dogs of the Lord
   Tearing at my carcass heart
   I shall fall to my knees only at the keyholes
   Of Virtue slipping into bondage masks...
   Freewill made me better to reign in Hell"
  
   And with new wings
   Unfurled and spoken
   He took to things
   That would desecrate the wold
  
   The seduction of both woman and man
   For a bastard masterplan
  
   Drowning out the past
   Fool Fates unwound cruel yesterdays
   Beneath the stars
   That staggered from the blast