Cattle of the Sun

Cattle of the Sun

[Verse 1] We came ashore in hunger Where the white grass burned with day And the cattle of the sun Moved slowly through the flame

Their horns were pale as moonbone Their eyes were calm and wide And every living shadow Bent beneath the watching sky

[Pre-Chorus] Do not touch what the god has counted Do not take what the light has named But hunger has a human voice And mercy wears a blade

[Chant] The god who saw The god who sees White horns under burning trees

The god who saw The god who knows Every hand the hunger chose

[Verse 2] I warned them by the shoreline I warned them by the foam No meat beneath this holy sun Will ever lead us home

But sleep came down like iron And grief lay in my bones While the men I could not carry Faced the silence on their own

[Pre-Chorus] No thunder marked the first cut No darkness crossed the sky Only the sound of breathing As something sacred died

[Chant] The god who saw The god who sees White horns under burning trees

The god who saw The god who knows Every hand the hunger chose

[Verse 3] They built the fire at evening They turned the spits with care And the fat hissed like a whisper Of a god already there

No one sang for victory No one blessed the feast They ate like men abandoned At the altar of a beast

[Bridge] Then the hides began to tremble And the dead flesh gave a cry The smoke rose up in silence Like a black wound in the sky

The oars would not remember The ropes would not obey And the sun stood still above us Like an eye that would not turn away

[Heavy Instrumental Break]

[Judgment] Not for gold Not for glory Not for hatred Not for pride

Only hunger Only weakness Only men too worn To be denied

But the gods do not forgive What they have forbidden And the sea does not forget What the sky has seen

[Final Chant] The god who saw The god who sees White horns under burning trees

The god who saw The god who knows Every name the black wave chose

The god who saw The god who sees No king bargains with the sea

The god who saw The god who knew Left one man for the storm to use

[Outro] The mast broke like a promise The sky came down in flame And all the mouths that cursed me Were swallowed without name

No sail No shore No brother at the oar

Only thunder Only foam And the long dark road To Calypso’s door