What’s this house I see,
in the murky night
Bare against the wind,
an unholy site

All its windows
face the deep abyss
What man would live
in a house like this?

Tired as I was, I unharnessed my steed
"Is there anyone home, come to my aid!"
Not a sound - just a crow descending to feed
And through the hall passed a flickering shade

A hall like a tavern -
benches, tables in rows
And the gathered crowds,
every third’s a foe

An unwanted guest,
they curse my debut
In the corner the
icons hang askew.

All around me chatter: a snide, shady rave
I hear howling of songs, and tormented guitars
And the mad epileptic, a rogue and a knave
Showed me his knife from under the bar

"Who can answer me,
what is this place,
And why in the darkness,
in the empty space?

With the candles dim,
all the air escaped
This is not life,
in no form or shape!

Your doors open wide, but your soul is sealed
Is the owner around? Pour wine in my glass!"
And the answer: "You’ve travelled too long through the fields"
And forgotten of man - we’ve always lived thus

In the darkness dine,
eating weeds and sorrel
With sour souls, each
day fight and quarrel

Each night pass out drunk,
cursing as we fall
Ending our lives,
hung in the hall"

"My horses are weary, packs of wolves on my trail
Show me to the house, which I’ve come to seek
Show me to a house, where the candles prevail
Where the song is just song, not a wail or a shriek"

Of such houses, my friend,
we have never heard
And these shadows
here engulf the whole world

We’ve always lived like this -
in the silent sin
Shadows all around,
and the same within

From this fetor, where the crooked saints hide
I was fleeing and cursing the ungodly den
Let my horses decide, where I will ride
And find that place where men live like men

Many years have passed,
and the road was tough
Life has tossed me far,
but not far enough

Was my song of you,
not all true and fit?
Oh how black the eyes,
oh how white the sheets...