Plague

Wretched were the tidings from much distance east

The wrath of god descended there as fog

The pestilence had smothered all living that it touched

And crept across the sea towards our shores

A corpse am I and black my eyes

Come see the world through these rotting holes

Become black flesh and wear thin to bones

To dust to blow together with the wind

The bishop and the sailor are alike

In superstition, the latrine and death

Both grab for their cross, kneel and pray

The reaper takes the other in his stead

Lo-behold the reaper is himself among us

Black as pits of hell, he gathers souls

Tall among the wailing crowds he walks

Everywhere he steps the dying fall

Fewer lights are lit tonight - the less for dying

The fiend of death is dining with the prince

A cry of sorrow issues from the deep

It summons all tonight into eternal sleep

Humanity - in gluttonous numbers

Has long been itching for some kind of doom

They weep now that it is here so soon

They flail themselves for it to be gone

Abstracted horror gnawls deeper North

The stench of death into life's bouquet

Of centuries without a bath - human worms

Behold the common grave this is your worth.