Odes to Joy

Tarot · Track 15 · middle

The Devil

RWS: a horned Baphomet crouched on a black half-cube, an inverted torch in one hand, a naked man and woman chained below with small horns and tails, the chains loose enough to lift off. Keywords: bondage you chose, temptation, the shadow self, appetite, the chain that was never locked.

No audio yet — generation pending.

Lyrics

Ash-rim, vhal...
I sit upon the severed black cube.
Koth-ya.

I hold the fire upside down
The inverted torch bleeds heavy smoke
Over the man and the woman on the ground
You have grown little horns to match my crown
You stand naked in the soot
Tethered to the stone beneath my foot.
Sha-rim, korr.

Oh, the iron loop is heavy on your neck
But it was never locked, it was never locked
You could lift it from your collar with a sudden step
But the metal is warm, and the shadow is soft
Ul-tash, ul-tash.
You chose the tether.
You love the dark weather.

The collar is exactly 3 inches wide
Far too large to keep a human throat inside
But you keep your chin tilted just right
So the metal doesn't slip in the middle of the night
You stroke the little tail sprouting from your spine
Vhal koth.
The hunger is... exactly what you asked for.

The brain builds a cage out of a sweet reward
The neural groove carving out a master and a lord
Ia, ia, shul-nagath.

I am not your captor, little beast.
I am just the host of the feast.

Oh, the iron loop is heavy on your neck
But it was never locked, it was never locked
You could lift it from your collar with a sudden step
But the metal is warm, and the shadow is soft
Ul-tash, ul-tash.
You chose the tether.
You love the dark weather.

The inverted torch burns down to the pitch
You could walk away
You could walk away
But it scratches the itch.
Koth-ya.
The chain just rests there on the bone.
I never had a key.
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