old stuff: cathedral

It's an old one which you might have come across on my lyrics pages. I've posted it because I just discovered an archived version of my very early web pages on the wayback-machine. There is a little poem I wrote 1999 which actually became the seed for the song (see the last verse):

Exit

There will be no future,
all your plans are in vain.
The girl you have loved,
in her blood - raped and slain.
Yourself in the dungeon,
left there to rot.
You've been a believer -
but where is your God?

"Cathedral" is still my favorite song, mainly because it fits in no category (and I like my own guitar solo at the end, it matches my - very limited - skill, and it sounds good, nonetheless, a bit like Robin Trower, my personal guitar hero).

And this is the text:

the village was plundered
the harvest destroyed
the peasants were tortured
young girls raped and slain

futures erased
and homes set ablaze
this is a scene of horror
this is the devil's place

over carnage and misery towers the cathedral
proudly, and it's glory's beyond death and upheaval

dim and golden light from candles and stained glass
wrong is turned to right and worldly sorrows pass

walking through the nave sunk in deep devotion
away from fights and fate and rage you're finding consolation

again pillage and plunder
you're taking revenge
arson and slaughter
torture and pain

"Stab the kids, rape their mothers,
hang or quarter their fathers -
'cause we are the good ones,
and they are the others!"

your guilt drives you to confess, do penance, and to sacrifice
receive the absolution to be sure of the paradise

the wrong ones have won
your castle was conquered
your empire has gone
you were put in chains,
thrown into the dungeon,
and left there to rot
you've been a believer -
but where is your God?