Текст песни: How Have the Mighty Fallen? + перевод

Denizens of sylvan places

Hidden from the eyes of man

Courtesans with sylph-like graces

Dancing to the pipes of Pan —

That echoed through the ether

Notes that soured the wings of halcyon

Songs to give our life the meaning

That we lack now they have gone

Watch the pattern ever changing

In the tapestry of fate

Weft and weave and interlacing

Silken strands that fabricate —

A cloak to fit both king and beggar

Those who rule and those that toil

Are equalled in the fact that

All pay homage to this mortal coil

Icy fingers grasping madly

Get a grip upon my throat —

And slowly squeeze the life out of me

On my dying words I choke

Afrantic prayer in desperation

Cannot hope to make me whole

A moments lapse of concentration

And the spirits flee my soul

Drugs and potions surge within me —

Slowly paralize and kill me

Terrified I stumble blindly

Into the unknown

Outside looking in — observing

Feelings that I find unnerving

Dying with my eyes wide open

Helpless and alone

The endless void that lies beyond —

With gaping jaws it beckons me

I cast my worldly flesh aside and

Plunge into eternity

Once light hearted I departed —

On my quest hope courted me

Now a new love is my true love

And her name is misery

Eyes as dark as midnight-ravens

Gems that filled my mind with awe

Enthral my heart —

Distract me from her milk-white hands

Stained red with gore

The fetters that bound me are broken

By words that were best left unspoken

For now I am shackled to sadness

By chains that are tempered with madness

I plummet like a shooting-star

That shines so bright yet falls so far

Shafts of moonlight guide me

To the world that waits below

I seem in need of nothing else

But rope enough to hang myself-

Laughing through the gates of Hell I go

MY SOULS LAMENT

Contained within a living shroud

My life-force fades and dies

This weary heart grows heavy

As the coins upon my eyes

The latch has now been lifted

On an ever open door

And peering through I see things

As I never have before

The hammer and the anvil meet —

In synchronicity they chime

#a sound so simple and complete

It needs no melody or rhyme

Reforging all that I once was —

They make me into something new

No longer trapped within this world

But, transient and passing through —

The 'valley of the shadow'

Far beyond the 'summerland'

Like the wild-boar is my valour

Now my life is in these hands —

That keep the seething couldron steaming

Stoke the fires of destiny

Gently take me and re-shape me

All-wise smith of sorcery

The fetters that bound me are broken

By words that were best left unspoken

For now I am shackled to sadness

By chains that are tempered with madness

From the 'cup of happiness'

The wine of hoped I’ve sipped

Betrayed I taste the bitterness

Of pain upon my lips

Though I try to drown my sorrows

They will surely drown me first

For swallowing my pride

Won’t quench this thirst

MY SOULS LAMENT:

In this darkness light has faded —

Hope becomes despair

Loneliness for a companion —

With me everywhere

I wander in confusion

While the tears that I have cried

Gleam like broken trinkets

You have worn then cast aside

WODEN:

«Now hand-in-hand with ignorance

The power mad run blindly

But retibution hunts you down

And rest assured he’ll find thee

No curtain could conceal you

For the ghosts of all you slander-

Await you at your journeys end

And, to them you must answer

The poisons born upon your tongue

Will never serve to slight me

For I have delt with many fools and

Suffer your kind lightly

Just as you sow so shall you reap —

And I my friend have plenty

So sit ye down and eat your words

Now that your plate is empty.»

The endless void that lies beyond

With gaping jaws it beckons me

I cast my worldly flesh aside and

Plunge into eternity

Once light hearted I departed —

On my quest hope courted me

Now a new love is my true love

And her name is misery

Eyes as dark as midnight-ravens

Gems that filled my mind with awe

Enthral my heart —

Distract me from her milk-white hands

Stained red with gore

The fetters that bound me are broken

By words that were best left unspoken

For now I am shackled to sadness

By chains that are tempered with madness

The endless void that lies beyond —

With gaping jaws it beckons me

I cast my worldly flesh aside and

Plunge into eternity

Once light hearted I departed —

On my quest hope courted me

Now a new love is my true love

And her name is misery

Eyes as dark as midnight-ravens

Gems that filled my mind with awe

Enthral my heart —

Distract me from her milk-white hands

Stained red with gore

The fetters that bound me are broken

By words that were best left unspoken

For now I am shackled to sadness

By chains that are tempered with madness

I plummet like a shooting-star

That shines so bright yet falls so far

Shafts of moonlight guide me

To the world that waits below

I seem in need of nothing else

But rope enough to hang myself-

Laughing through the gates of Hell I go

MY SOULS LAMENT

Contained within a living shroud

My life-force fades and dies

This weary heart grows heavy

As the coins upon my eyes

The latch has now been lifted

On an ever open door

And peering through I see things

As I never have before

WODEM:

«Why do the mighty view the world

Through syncophantic eyes —

Then claim to us they know what’s best

From pedastals of pride?

Don’t take the views of others

And dismiss them out of hand —

For when your pillars crumble

Tell me who will take command?»