---

gather the young ones

let your games begin

black-winged protector

shelter the ones who have sinned

clandestine traditions

obscured by suspicion

doctrines of tragedy

preserved and glorified

in the echo of a lie

fate of the nations

plows and shears to swords

this congregation

nodding in silent accord

punish the other

just like our fathers

lost in this darkness

how the generations die

in the echo of a lie

on hands and knees, I crawl to you

oh help me please, like you always do

with bloody knees, I run away from you

these lives unsaved, this book untrue

(Lead Break: “A Horrible Night to Have a Curse,”

R. Bruchert)