red ribbons and cold killers
walk with irons and clay
coins and spice and ivory pillars
cold killers, halos fade

ashes fall like snow
its purity undenied
shadows lie in rows
steep and selfish, undefined

blackened sand and blood rivers
feathers fall like stones
traps left by trade-wind killers
coracias lying cold

last unreaching land
lost undying world
deign to raise my hand
take my blood for your own

when they rowed away
carrying all the bones of stolen kings
their consorts burdened endlessly
they stole away
the crowns and all their legacy
the tyrants sing
and raise aloft their bloody flag