Mermaid, Dragon, Fiend! ft. Out Of Orion Lyrics

In my childhood rumors ran

Of a world beyond our door

Terrors to the life of man

That the highroad held in store

Of mermaids' doleful game

In deep water I heard tell

Of lofty dragons belching flame

Of the hornèd fiend of Hell

Tales like these were too absurd

For my laughter-loving ear

Soon I mocked at all I heard

Though with cause indeed for fear

Now I know the mermaid kin

I find them bound by natural laws:

They have neither tail nor fin

But are deadlier for that cause

Dragons have no darting tongues

Teeth saw-edged, nor rattling scales

No fire issues from their lung's

No black poison from their tails

For they are creatures of dark air

Unsubstantial tossing form's

Thunderclaps of man's despair

In mid-whirl of mental storms

And there's a true and only fiend

Worse than prophets prophesy

Whose full powers to hurt are screened

Lest the race of man should die

Ever in vain will courage plot

The dragon's death, in coat of proof

Or love abjure the mermaid grot

Or faith denounce the cloven hoof

Mermaids will not be denied

The last bubbles of our shame

The Dragon flaunts an unpierced hide

The true fiend governs in God's name