1. SPITTING TEETH

This nest reeks of disease
Soaked with mites and fleas
This nest is a room you'll never leave
Beak dripping with bile
Scavenge scraps of denial
Refuse to settle in
Sloughing feathers and skin

Cryptic Slaughterer
I know you fear me

I'll watch you decay
This is your debt
Now repay
I'll rip fragile skin
You'll always be my prey
Tumors ulcerate
Languish and stagnate
Sludge seeps from your pores
I'll smile and wait

Bending bones that splinter as you tremble

Everything you dread clasps its fingers
'round your throat

Spectre of greed with a kiss so tender

Self worshipper
Stop praying
Your avarice earns you no pity

Desecrate your vows
Squander innocence
I would watch you burn
But that takes too much time


2. ASHEN SCABLAND

You wear your shield of crust
Face creased with years of rust

Ribcage filled with cement
Two decades of resentment
Bit my tongue
Choked blood
A mess no one mopped up

Hard not to scream
When steel wool is your blindfold
And you can't find what's hidden

No one said you had to stay
Crippling fear of solitude
Squalling bastard in your way
Three isn't company

I won't reconcile
Or show my throat
Part of the curse you proffered me

Am I a blister on your heel?
Or a limp you can't hide:
Or a vessel for your vitriol?
A cup that runneth over

This isn't what you want
But time's not on our side
Where do you think you'll go when you die?
I'll chew on glass
I can't swallow my pride
Walk through the door
I'll leave through a window
I should see someone
But that means learning where I went wrong

It kills me too

It kills me more than it kills you

When half of me is you
What part of me is left to trust?

I'm imprisoned by your name
And your generosity

Olive branches burn on the pyre
For every inch you'd always raze a mile
One step forward
Two steps back
Falling swiftly to snap my neck


3. AKRATIC SEMINAR

My will is gone
Eroded with each fragile night
Don't sympathize with a liar who has paid the price
I can lure you back this time
Pormises that fester in the light

Don't walk away
My muscles ache with fresh exertion
Stay with me
I'll conjure up some remedy
I can lure you back this time
Promises that fester in the light
Where was our discipline?
Misplaced but not forgotten.

It never stops
A chill that never thaws out
Eyes beckon your return
Frost forms on my breath

I am a sore inside your mouth
My voice a sound you can't block out
And I will be your great regret
The one that makes you pray for death

I can't say no
Tongue is swollen
Refusal seems so hollow

Eyes wide
Splitting at the seams

Take this away
A mess of skin and agony
Chemical waste of space
Perfume and nicotine


4. THE PSEUDOSCIENTIST

Tread on your spine like stepping stones
Venomous maw licking your wounds
A living crutch
Amputating a limb

I was a person not a sin
Your body bloats and swells with lies
As your excuses wear thin
I'm drawing the line here

Just have another drink
While you preach to me your non-belief
You desperate pseudoscientist
False gospel dripping from your lips

Burn yourself out
Leave the forest ablaze

Beneath the frail bravado
A forager who lusts for power
Your claws still grasp at passing flesh
Drink stagnant blood
I've paid my debt

I was a person not a sin
Your body bloats and swells with lies
As your excuses wear thin

So choke down another drink
While you preach to me your non-belief
You fucking pseudoscientist
False gospel dripping from your lips
I swear I'm listening
Opportunist