When the light's away
Like in this predawn hour
I observe a certain crippled slave
Chained in the darkened tower

The shackles that constrict
Tighten when he thinks of thee
And though he knows he's cut the knot
Unbridled is not free

For heavy lies the yoke
That he's broken trying to lift
A fallow future slowly salts
Dissolves within the rift

He's choking on the blight
That never rises with the bile
It burns the tar that coats his lungs
And whispers all the while

Those echoes and the pounding
In the silent night's full moon
Cast shadows of his vanished life
To dance around the room

They gather by the bed
To watch his soul depart
They lift the golden dagger high
To stop the bleeding heart