DEATH CAME A RIDIN’

DEATH CAME A RIDIN’

‘Twas an evening not unlike tonight
Something in the air just ain’t quite right
Under a hangnail moon and its sliver of light
Death came a ridin’
Death came a ridin’, ridin’

No bird or beast dared make a sound
And Holy Mother, how my heart did pound
Was a hairpin curve that brought him around
Death came a ridin’
Death came a ridin’, ridin’

CHORUS
I looked at him, he stared through me
My bones felt the weight of eternity
And a thousand other faces I did see
For whom death came a ridin’
Oh, what’s to come for a wretch like me?
Not to hang in the balance of purgatory
Yet I was to blame for this calamity
Death came a ridin’
For me

I cried, “Oh Death, it can’t be me!”
I sought to gain his sympathy
“There’s a million motherfuckers other than me”
As my finger took aim to back my pleas

Death shook his head at my foolish tirade
It was clear that his choice had long since been made
What choice had I, now as pariah?
So I did climb in his black moriah

CHORUS

We rode through the mists and the waving wheat
The horrors to come, I dare not repeat
As we crossed the threshold, I became aware
Of the parted curtains and the neighbors’ stares

Death spun his whip with a vicious crack
Upon four midnight horses’ glistening backs
Yet how was it, with the moriah’s haste
Time stretched on at an infinite pace?

CHORUS

BRIDGE
Past the hills, past the trees
We leave this world upon our knees
Past the willows, past the seas
Day is through, best make your peace