The Plague - Scott Walker

I’ve spent many a night

Lying on my back

Waiting for the dawn

To pierce and crack

And the ceiling

Hanging from the sky

And I envy the boy

Who grabbed the toy

And ran away

And found a joy

While I stood in the shadows

Wondering why

Flying towards me

Then he laughs

A woman’s face

The terrible taste

Of the morning after kisses

And goodbyes

I could never seem to catch my footsteps

Have desires, they fly away

Every day I have to fight the plague

How can I sleep in hours like this

When anguish tracks me like a fist

My nakedness exposed, I can’t stand

Still I… try to remember lips on lips

Hips on hips and ice on fire

In gloom and glow

When did they leave the man

In the mirror of the night I see

A face that staring out at me

Like a fallen star

Burned itself out

Like a deadly scrapes

Across the ground

My voice cried out

In a gravelled sound

No one’s there to hear me

But the plague

Straining hard to see

Running after me

I keep pounding pounding on the door

But it’s all so vague

When you meet the plague

And I keep coming

I keep coming back for more