Damnation Trail

 

Through forests dark and shadowed vale

He follows the damnation trail

Along the river’s twisted course

Through bracken thick and clutching gorse

The ancient path cut through the land

He walks with devil’s hand in hand

 

And where his steps flatten the crops

No more will grow the wheat and hops

For he has footsteps cast in death

He steals the failing summer’s breath

There’s only winter in his eyes

Where he treads salvation dies

 

He leaves a trail of stiffened crows

In ditches, furrows and hedgerows

When he touches gentle things

He is the grief that autumn brings

His ragged clothes take on the hue

Of fallen leaves and damp mildew

 

At last he settles on the earth

Awaits the reaper for rebirth

The crow man who will wield his scythe

and return to him a life.

The dark angel answers his call

for seasons rise as seasons fall.