Floral Cairn by Ba'al

These rivers are clogged with the dead
That infect the waters
And the trees are but makeshift gallows
From which to swing

Heavy hang the portraits of your much loved sons and daughters
In reverence from which they can never falter

Tell us tall tales of past generations
Heroic and strong, shoulders broad
Stiff upper lip and all of that
Such candour won’t help your children

So heavy hang the portraits of your much loved sons and daughters
In reverence from which they can never falter
Let us sing hymns of care professed in hindsight
Bathe in the afterglow of a fire left unattended

And those embers that were deigned to spread
To dry cursed fields in which cancer was sown
Met with fondness by those of darkening thoughts
As though a traveller returning home
For it is not the cliff edge but the desire to jump
That stills the mortal mind with fear
The rocks are well dashed with broken souls
And the sea burns soothing crimson

Familiar platitudes
Saying all the right words
The stench of flowers
Born of rotten soil
A garden of decay
The fermenting heavens
A brand new plaque
Playgrounds grazed with chalk outlines

In dreams lifeless marionettes dangle from the trees
And mannequins are laid out and dressed in finest garb
Faceless and without context
The mealy mouth's do chomp into decaying flesh
Saliva breaking down the putrescence and spat into insignificance
They think this virtue, they think this right to do
But the silence before, the deafening silence
A silence that bores deep into the soul and blackens once starlit eyes
That feel and search for hope in a vacuum

What remains but a floral cairn
A totem to memories
Shrivelled petals that drift in the wind
A distant voice unheard
The dry field has grown a garden of stones
That reach towards heaven
Plumes of ash dance into the sky
Spread far and wide and then settle

You’ll scrub your limbs of the chalky fallout
But it will cling to us
And the flowers marked for remembrance
Will slowly wither and die
As we forget once more

• Atmospheric Black Metal
• Blackened Post Metal
• Metal
• post black metal
• post-metal
• ‎sludge metal
• Sheffield