THEY KEEP ON PUTTING ME TO SLEEP

They keep on putting me to sleep
I've given up asking why
They won't let me leave or live a life
And they will not let me die
Every day they wheel me from my room
And lay me on the table
They strap me down and put the mask on my face
To resist I am not able

The next thing I know I'm back in the room
Never knowing what they've done
I'm restrained so I can't touch myself
To feel what they've begun
I'm fed and hydrated by a line in my arm
So food and drink I can't refuse
And I'm tranquilized if I get upset
Or start to get the blues

The first few times I'd struggle and scream
But all that got me was sedated
They gave me things to make me sore and ill
Until I co-operated
So I went along and played it cool
And tried to make a plan
But my thoughts are now so dull and weak
To plot I no longer can

With the mind I have left I'm trying to figure
Exactly what they're doing
I know my temples are often sore
My head feels like it's stewing
Soon I won't be able to think at all
Perhaps that's their objective
I've already lost all sense of time
And distance and perspective

I can't remember who I am
Or how I came to be here
This feels like all I've ever known
I can no longer see clear
I just wish that all this would end
One way or another
To not be at all would be a release
From needles, gas and rubber

THE DEMONS ARE DEMONS BEFORE THEY DIE

Sometimes we curse our own emotions
They interfere with our devotions
They sabotage our upward path
They leave an embarrassing aftermath
But the sages know and find it proven
Without them we would not be human
When you do not feel the soul runs dry
And the demons were demons before they died

How do we reach out one to another?
Enjoy the embrace of a tender lover?
What is that makes that soul connection
And keeps us in the right direction?
The language of feeling speaks to us all,
We understand its heartfelt call
But to a soul gone dark it's just a lie
And the demons were demons before they died

Within some there's a dark seed carried
Not all of these to Dark get married
But only those abused, rejected
By the dark within become infected
When The Dark is all they've ever known
Then The Dark is all they'll ever show
And when there's only Dark inside
Then the Demons are Demons before they die

THE PRICE

Gerry our singer was always so driven
For fame and success his soul would have given
This we all knew, his desire you could smell it
But none of us thought that you really could sell it
Every step of our way was posted with warnings
But most of died before there was dawning
And now what is lost we can never retrieve it
And simply because we refused to believe it

Between gigs and groupies and the things you're expecting
Gerry our singer had started collecting
Weird-looking books from these weird-looking hippies
He'd check out old bookstores in all of the cities
Half the tour bus became a dark dusty library
As Gerry pursued his tireless enquiry
Until one late October without explanation
He suddenly let out a strange exclamation

Facere tenebris pact!! He yelled very loudly
And then he just got of the bus marching proudly
"Where are you going?!" yelled our drummer all indignant
"I'll be back for the gig!" he replied all indifferent
And, sure enough, with just seconds to spare
Gerry appeared like a ghost from nowhere
"Where have you been?!" I asked with annoyance
"The Crossroads!" he said with an odd tone of buoyance

"What crossroads where?" I shouted bemused
But Gerry just took to the stage all enthused
And no one who was there will ever forget
How we barnstormed our way through our hard-rockin' set
Gerry had sang like a madman on fire
The joy and excitement grew higher and higher
Every single fan of the band who had been
Proclaimed it the best gig that they'd ever seen

We could hardly believe just what we'd delivered
But a look in Gerry's strange eyes made me shiver
It was if something wholesome inside him had died
Now something malevolent looked out through his eyes
But no others noticed, too high on elation
We had suddenly become a rock-world sensation
The word quickly got out and every ticket was selling
Fans followed us everywhere screaming and yelling

We became the greatest rock band on the planet
Gerry's voice so melodic yet rock-hard like granite
But then with success and our fame and our fortune
Like a dark side to every shining bright full moon
Bad things started happening to people around us
Groupies would vanish, there was fear and mistrust
Everyone got on everyone's nerves
Roadies would die and then leave in a hearse

Everybody was cheap and easily replaced
And Gerry indifferent that blank stare on his face
In the band no one cared, we'd all just get high
Until one-by-one we started to die
Rob went first, our petulant drummer
For no known reason he died at the start of the Summer
Simon on keyboards took his own life
And before doing so he'd murdered his wife

When Dave our guitarist died crushed by a tree
That only left session men, Gerry and me
For me Gerry seemed to have lost all respect
I felt a dark premonition that it was my turn next
But one day a terrified roadie approached me
And thrust in my hand a neck-chain with a loud plea
To wear it at all times 24-7
For in a place of hell it was a circle of heaven

I never did see that roadie again
Though our meeting was brief, he'd felt like a friend
So with nothing to lose I wore the present he gave me
Off the chain hung a symbol all curvy and wavy
I couldn't describe it but whatever it was
I seemed to be kept out of fate's deadly jaws
While all those around me seemed hateful and fearful
I felt no darkness, but I was sad and tearful

Knowing only this life I played on one more year
Until that terrible night of horror and fear
When I walked in the dressing room not planned or expected
And was to an ultimate horror subjected
Gerry looked up, his dark eyes bore right through me
As he munched on the flesh of a young slaughtered groupie
What once had been teeth were now fangs sharp and jagged
Which now tore at the flesh all bloody and ragged

So clearly, that face I will always recall
What once had been Gerry was not there at all
Just hatred and hunger and twisted desire
All humanity burned out by some ghastly fire
Some terrible bargain at unspeakable cost
Had caused Gerry to be irretrievably lost
Now this being with black eyes and way beyond frightening
Just kept on eating and between bites was smiling

I don't know how long that I had been running
When I finally collapsed, shaking trembling and mumbling
The doctor who saw me pronounced me insane
And so came to and end my unwanted fame
The medications they gave me were calming and pleasing
I've made it quite clear that I don't want releasing
In here I am safe from that terrible being
Whose fans in their folly don't know what they're seeing

THE MONSTER

Bella doesn't sleep at night
She's grown very thin
She barely ever eats a thing
Terrified of HIM
It started about a year ago
She came rushing through the door
Screaming about a monster
And tales of blood and gore

It was an ordinary day
Bella always loved the woods
But she never went back from that time on
Not even looking if she could
She told tales of a woman there
Torn up limb from limb
And parts devoured one by one
She saw the monster grin

But no one was ever reported missing
No blood or evidence found
Of anything happening untoward
By the policeman or his hound
There was but one conclusion
No alternative to find
For some reason on the fateful day
Bella had lost her mind

They took her to professionals near and far
Explored childhood memories and dreams
But no obvious cause could ever be found
And at night her terrified screams
Would make up neighbours streets away
Until everybody spoke as one
Everything possible had been tried
Only one thing could be done

The day they came to take her away
She offered no resistance
She just looked up with frightened eyes
And complied with their insistence
The ambulance passed the very woods
Where Bella's younger days were spent
The Monster peered out from behind a tree
And watched it as it went

THE SKILLED LOVER

There was a man with a talent with no explanation
It's in no manual or skill registration
It's an ability for which no sane man would covet
And not even a desperate woman would love it
He was not psychotic or bitter or hateful
But encounters with Dave would always be fatal
You'd never believe it whether whispered or said
But Dave made you cum until you were dead

Dave first found his talent with a clubber called Lucy
Dave was charming and soon got her juicy
Dave wanted to be responsible, kind
There was no murder or hate on his mind
He reached in his pocket and pulled out his rubber
And keen Lucy dressed him with the skill of a clubber
In no time at all they were wrestling as one
It was all harmless grown-up and sensual fun

It got ever more frantic and the climax soon came
Dave felt her pleasure explode into flame 
Her contractions began as you'd expect them to do
He thought they would last for a minute or two
But Lucy's ecstasy just kept on going
Her muscles kept twitching, secretions kept flowing
And after five minutes Dave then got worried
He'd already exploded and wished her more hurried

It's normal at climax for you to stop breathing
And then breathe again as contractions start easing
But after ten minutes Lucy just was not stopping
And O2-starved cells in her brain started popping
Though now unconscious Lucy just wasn't ending
Dave got off her but it was beyond mending
Shocked and confused he tried to revive her
But Lucy's strained heart just gave out inside her

A terrified Dave just fled from the scene
You must understand if that sounds kind of mean
For this kind of thing Dave just wasn't prepared
Who would have believed him? Who would of cared?
The Police decided to take it no further
When pathologists said that this wasn't murder
Poor Lucy had died of "natural" causes
"Perhaps Ondine's Curse" said one behind gauzes

Dave had concluded it wasn't his fault
Though he was feeling bad he'd decided to bolt
This illusion he lived in, in a fairly calm manner
Until one fateful night, he met Diana
When Diana expired in just the same way
"Oh no not again!" was all Dave could say
 As he fled from the scene he thought "lightning strikes twice"
But even Dave didn't think that bad lightning strikes thrice

So when Sarah died in his trembling arms
He resolved to longer go try out his charms
He swore he would pursue a life on the shelf
And when things got desperate he'd pleasure himself
And so Dave received his Darwin Award
One lonely cold night when horny and bored
As he grabbed hold of his firm bulging thing
He thought he was immune to his own deadly sting

So Dave just relaxed and let himself go
A tissue readied to catch all the flow
He thought that afterwards he would feel better
But those who then found him would remember forever
The look of delight on his cold bluish face
Forever frozen by Death's cold embrace
Some genetic mutations are not very useful
And so they make way for others more fruitful

BRIAN WAS SUCH AN ORDINARY MAN

Brian was such an ordinary man
With a family, a job and a pension plan
He hardly ever drew a mention
He was just there, working toward his pension
Brian always wore a friendly smile
You'd never know that all the while
Beneath that affable ordinary grin
There was darkness growing inside of him

Brian had learned from an early age 
How to suppress one's own inner rage
How to deal with bully and teacher
How to avoid the abusive preacher
Brian would blend into the world
Only in his head the fear and rage swirled
Brian learned the skill of going unnoticed
Learned how to say yes without hint of protest

And so Bob found himself a safe little wife
And built around him a safe little life
With children, a mortgage and DIY
He built a gilded cage so he never could fly
All resentment and anger got buried within
Festering and simmering inside of him
But a soul turned dark with a toxic load
Will finally and with deadly force explode

The needle to this bubble of gathering dark
The final and fatal explosive spark
Came in the form of a family row
For so many years avoided 'til now
Without further word he just crossed the floor
Took out the keys and locked all the doors
Never in their scariest dreams
Had the neighbours heard such terrible screams

What one neighbour saw has she looked in the window
Makes her wake up screaming and fighting her pillow
Blood on the walls, blood on the floor
Blood on the ceiling, blood on the door
A dead face frozen in shock and surprise
Unbridled terror burned in her eyes
Newspapers proclaimed FAMILY FOUND DEAD
"Brian was such an ordinary man" witnesses said. 

THE KNOCK ON THE DOOR

When you first came knocking on my door
I wondered what you came there for
It was soon clear that you needed feeding
For admittance you were begging and crying and pleading
If in that moment I sent you away
I wouldn't be stood here knocking today
But my pity it went and sealed up my fate
I'd opened an invisible protective gate

In essence you had told the truth
When you begged the shelter of my roof
For sustenance was indeed your aim
That you lied I certainly cannot claim
But you wanted no chicken, or my goulash recipe
The food you wanted flowed within me
You looked straight at me with hypnotic eyes
My mind went blank, my head tilted, I sighed

Such agonizing pain, but I could not move!
Unable to shout complain or disprove
My life drained away as yours was nourished
My story ended as your own being flourished
But even your own dark soul felt my kindness
And sought to return it in your moral blindness
But in truth I wish you had just left me a corpse
That would be better than this endless remorse

You thought you were giving an eternal gift
As you let your own blood pass between my two lips
But I awoke three days later to find I was cursed
For me no funeral, no flowers or hearse
In this Hell on Earth I can know only night
I know only hunger and killing on sight
I have no wholesome thought just desire for more
My next prey selected, I knock on the door...