Flies Lyrics

The impending death was on my mind

When I saw the first pass by

His elderly wife just months behind

But after two, it shocked us all

It was just a child after all

When I saw three more on my wall

While at camp, the family mourned

Four on the mantle, I could have warned

My messenger's pattern formed

A year I waited to see the five

When I finally did, In due time

With conscience scorned and soul deprived

After six, I thought, to reveal my source

But it would have, multiplied remorse

Now reduced to a gift without a voice

After seeing seven, I confessed

But, in it's wake, it was repressed

Those drunken words were never again addressed

Before eight, I tried to put in time

With who I thought was next in line

But, their identity, I could not find

From there, the flies would come fast

Nine on the sill, ten on the glass

And each new grief reheats the last.

It seems the flies must know

When the Sluagh roam

When the west-wind blows

To bring souls home.

It's a dance old as stone

After eleven, I'd not take risks

And the guilt followed, when I felt relief

I cursed that fate and unwanted gift

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, arrive

The nurses swat and apologize

It's Here, the only one I told died

And when I lay upon that bed

With fifteen flies above my head

They'll tell me lies, but I know what's at the end

It seems the flies must know

When the Sluagh roam

When the west-wind blows

To bring souls home

It's a dance old as stone