rise if you're sleeping; stay awake

i) gather jewels from graveyards
when i get home, bury them again
wonder if you'll ever get the chance
to ask me why i turned you in


ii) i saved my own skin but i lived to fight
i lived to fight another day
still remember how brave you were
when they came to take you away


iii) and i feel guilty but i can't feel ashamed
prowl through empty fields, great cain.


iv) thought i'd seen a ghost 
up on the boulevard, between the broken bits
it's hard to tell gifts of the spirit
from clever counterfeits 


v) sleepwalk through my days
and mark the hours until these dark times fade
like a caterpillar crawling out
along the surface of the blade


vi) and i feel guilty but i can't feel ashamed
prowl through empty fields, great cain.


vii) rummage through the gutted storehouse, now
and lick the sweat from my brow


viii) saw the trucks roll out this morning
not sure when they're coming back again
feel the prickings of my conscience in my chest
every now and then


ix) sometimes a great wave of forgetfulness
rises up and blesses me
and other times the sickness howls and i
despair of any remedy


x) and i feel guilty but i can't feel ashamed
prowl through empty fields, great cain!