What evil star burns bright my old flame And wilted my rose of Jericho Whose glare killed the prayer last parted from her lips And lit the path to churchyards untold?
The pitter and the patter of her dance once whirled away The eve like a dream of youth bloom But now the iron clatter of godforsaken woe Echoes ancient tones of shackled doom
Oh, I'll ride this agony wagon Forever to heaven or to hell I'll ride this agony wagon My bones are damned to roam these rusty rails Rusty rails
Oh, I'll ride this agony wagon Forever to heaven or to hell I'll ride this agony wagon My bones are damned to roam these rusty rails Rusty rails
What unholy haint rakes the devil's lyre And dumbs the din of joy bells in my soul Who in silent gloom arrives snapping thicket underfoot In moonless mist to light my carriage coals?
So into the shady dank of St. Jude's garden stairs East of the sun and west of the moon Where her secret crypt of nightshade in shut inside his mind Locked tighter than a toddler in a tomb
Oh, I'll ride this agony wagon Forever to heaven or to hell I'll ride this agony wagon My bones are damned to roam these rusty rails Rusty rails