Exile in the Desert

[adalger]

As I lurch through the canyon of death and despair,
And I breathe the corruption that hangs in a cloud
All around me, the syrupy, scrofulous air

Falls oppressive, tyrannical, onto my bare
Epidermis. The cries of the dead echo loud
As I lurch through the canyon of death and despair,

And I know that I'll never escape from in there
With the greedy, the lustful, the angry, the proud
All around me. The syrupy, scrofulous air

And the filth of the land are the cross that I bear
For eternity, shorn of the faith I'd avowed,
As I lurch through the canyon of death and despair.

I acknowledge my penance, accept it as fair:
The relentless refrain of the dead as they crowd
All around me; the syrupy, scrofulous air.

There is none who can save me. There's none who would dare
To invade the dominion that shackles me, cowed,
As I lurch through the canyon of death, and despair,
All around me the syrupy, scrofulous air.