Dance with the Devil

Letting people down is the thing I do best

So when the Devil comes a-knocking, I lay my conscience to rest

And throw the front door open so he can stroll right in

Because nothing feels better than this wild, passionate sin

The Devil says it’s right to him, so who am I to deny

The Master of Hell his desires? When he demands, I comply.

The way he twists my mind around and commands me to do wrong

I guess that I could stand and fight, but why deny where I belong?

I’m right at home when the Devil’s near and fills my heart with sin

I don’t care that they think it’s wrong. That’s why I let him in.

We’ve danced and frolicked a million times beneath the pale moonlight

Why look forward to better days when the Devil comes at night?

I don’t drown in sin. I thrive in it, and there’s no better way

To spend your mortal life on Earth than throwing it away

The Gambler

Letting people down is my only vice

So I sit at the table, and let Fate roll the dice

I swore off for a day, but the hype was too much

And playing for kicks is a miserly crutch

There’s something about it, the lights, and the rush

That comes with each flip, card, roll, buzz, brush

The pulse of a room, of a game, come alive

A life that I chose, a place that I thrive

They might call it a gamble, but I call it a ride

I bet more than money when I watch the dice fly

And Fate doesn’t care, she just welcomes you in

Into what some call a desert of impulse and sin

I say, let them judge me, they don’t understand

How it feels when I lay down my last winning hand

I don’t have a problem; there’s no lesson to learn

And though they might make me swear never to return,

We all know I’ll come back to the dazzling game

Once you’ve been sucked in, you’ll never be the same

Sodom and Gomorrah

With bound hands I walk through Sodom and Gomorrah

The graveyard of innocence, sanity’s diaspora

The deviant desolation, where sinners rule strong

And the impious implore you to blur right and wrong

The impenitent sin through which I now wade

Lets me drown in agony, leaves no chance to evade

The pressure, the pain, the stench of sin, and the fire,

Where virtue is forbidden,  replaced with molten desire,

In brimstone and fire, they burn, turn to ash

While I cower in chains from their merited backlash

I still try to stay clean, amidst the fire around,

But I falter and fall, licking blood on the ground

A hapless waif I wander, millennia from home,

Trapped in others’ squalour, in which I now roam

Hanged

It was a fine summer night, but when I got home

I saw a horrid sight, and it turned my blood cold

The Devil hung by his neck from our shared bedroom ceiling

My heart paused in its course, and my body lost feeling

He hung there still, his face bloated and blue

He hung there, dead. I didn’t know what to do.

So I looked in his eyes, but I couldn’t look away

I was trapped in his lies, though he’d no more to say

He was dead, done, finished! But his legacy lay thick

It turned the air putrid, and it made my breath stick

I felt my throat closing from the memories around

But the Devil was dead! He hung feet from the ground!

But there was nothing I could do. His ghost was taunting me.

And the life we had lived, its weight was haunting me

And that’s how he killed me, when he was already dead

I couldn’t let him go, so he consumed me, instead

Dog Days

His hair was dark, in messy curls,

He said, “I’ve come to save the world.”

It was half past two, but crime doesn’t sleep

Thank God he was there to bring us relief

He jumped on a railing, and called to the sea

“Be wary, wrong-doers. You shall answer to me!”

Then he left in a flash, with a spark and a hop

But it wasn’t too long before something went wrong

He fell with a bang, with a thud, with a scream

And then a vile villain rose from the sea

“Wa-ha-ha!” he said. “Is that the best that you have?

I’ve killed your little hero, your so-called superman.

And now who shall fight me? Who could it possibly be?”

No volunteers spoke out. So I said, “I guess it’s me.”

I rolled up my sleeves and marched up to that beast

Who paraded in regalia around our recently-deceased

And I balled up my fists as I swung towards his face

And I knocked him straight down, knocked him back in his place

But the vile villain laughed and said, “What a surprise!

I guess women take over when all the men die.”

But I don’t like sexism, and I told him so

And I told him just where I thought that he should go

“Well, I’ll tell you what, girly,” said the beast, with a bow,

“I’ll let you live tonight if you go home right now.”

But I wouldn’t leave, I said. It just wasn’t right

To leave the city alone on that inauspicious night

So I said that I’d fight until I dropped dead

And then the villain said to me, “Girly, go right ahead.”

So I swung once, then twice, then thrice

I swung so hard I saw dancing lights

Then I realised he’d hit me right in the head

He’d hit me so hard, I fell down dead

—

And I watch the city as I sit by the moon

A city that villains run, sealing its doom

But no one sees villains for quite who they are

They see them as royalty, as diamonds, as stars

They worship the ground on which beasts lay their feet

They worship them all — I could never compete

So I sit here lonely, and I sing a sad song

Because I died for a cause that could never be won

And just as I wonder what it was all for

I hear a small knock on my celestial dome’s door

And in comes the superman who died before me

The only other one who’d tried to save the city

And he sits beside me, but we don’t exchange words

Because the premise of everything seems rather absurd

We both died for nothing, we both died in vain

We both died for people who don’t remember our names

We both died to save them from the things they now seek

We both died in silence. Now, they’re out of our reach.

Burn On

In the darkness, there is no light

No love, no laughter, only endless night

I stand by the altar, my soul dripping in sin

I stare at the heavens, where I won’t be let in

In my hand rests a candle, white wrapped in gold

It will be lit for the sins which will never be told

There are no words at all for the things that I’ve done

In me, God is weak; the devil’s already won

But I can still feel it, and I can still mourn

For the hope and the love I’ve shredded and torn

I have a match in my hand. Look, the candle is lit.

I walk to the pew, and, in silence, I sit.

The whole church is dark, save the flame up ahead

My body feels heavy, like it’s made out of lead

The flame burns so brightly, it makes my eyes bleed

As I sit, I bleed out the sins of life that I lead

Though I am of darkness, I sit through the night

I’m facing my candle, which is still burning bright

And when the sun rises, I’ll rise too, and be gone

But my flame will still burn; yes, the light will go on

Insanity’s Pleasure

The metal glistens on my neck

As it falls onto my chest

It cuts my skin, causing me pain

Is it a necklace, or is it a chain?

I can’t speak, so you won’t know

The trials I’ve had to undergo

I’ve been tortured to the edge

Of insanity’s pleasure, for a crime alleged

The metal links grow and grow

Leaching the truths I used to know

They clamp on my wrists, holding me tight

Keeping me bound to this darkness, this night

My sins number few, but they run deep

Haunting my mind like a song on repeat

Here, in the darkness, the shadows moan

My body shivers, and shakes my bones

My crimes are unspoken, yet darkness descends

Upon this maddening silence to which I am condemned

There is no light, yet the heavy chains glow

Wet like a sunbeam melting the snow

Oh! Those are tears! I think I am crying

No, you can’t help me. Leave me — I’m dying

I’m a criminal, a convict, my life is forfeit

I’ve been sentenced to madness, eternal torment

I am a monster — see? My life is done.

No breaths left to hold, they’ve already won

You might pity me; you don’t know how I’ve lived

The sickening sins no one ever forgives

But now that that’s over, and now that I’m dying

My walls have been broken, and, now, I am crying

And maybe, one day, you’ll learn to forgive

A monster forgotten, who no longer lives

Until then,  I’ll stand under my sins and my chains

Forever in darkness, now that I’ve gone insane