In the night

I see soldiers without guns
A thousand priests without suns
A hundred hands without fingers
The smell of hatred still lingers
There was a dart sticking to the back
Of a broken post
Behind a ghost
As the night came flashing

I heard the children lose their youth
A million eyes looked past the truth
Cacophonies of beggars battling
A pontiff's jewels were rattling
Smoke sticking to its great iron stack
In the empty sky
Behind a lie
As the night came crashing

I felt the slip of a rose's thorn
As wreaths of horror soon were torn
From the scalps of princes and of queens
Actors preaching loud without their scenes
It was then that we held both our hands
To the golden calf
Just for a laugh
As the night came rumbling

I knew that history had its friends
That tyranny had further ends
Strangers lurked within the silent mass
Candles burned so that God might trespass
Upon the filth of mud-coated lands
Of forgotten past
If it could last
As the night fell, crumbling