MERCY 008 – River of Pale Reflections | The Mercy

Thrash Metal, Southern Rock, High Energy, Heavy

(Verse 2)
At Harrow Lock the judges kept their ledgers clean and wide,
With witness marks for every craft that trusted to the tide.
They read the river warnings when the red flags climbed the mast,
And named each flooded district where the Pale had settled fast.

(Chorus)
On the river of pale reflections, they sailed by law and flame,
Where every landing counted debt and every ward had name.
The water bore their hunger, and the water bore their dead,
While rumours from the far towns moved like lanterns up ahead.

(Verse 3)
The flood farms bent to season with their beans and winter grain,
And sent their sacks by ferry through the fever and the rain.
No hidden sickness travelled where the river courts could see,
For one false cough could close a lock and starve a family.

(Verse 4)
They argued toll and passage where the warning boards were hung,
While children learned the river law before the work songs sung.
The drowned dead owned no cargo, yet their names were never sold,
And every salvaged medicine was witnessed, sealed, and told.

(Bridge)
They knew the Reach could save them when the grain boats came in line,
And knew the Reach could drown them when the levees lost their sign.
So barge and court and floodplain made a covenant of breath,
To keep the living moving past the windows full of death.

(Outro)
Now every lock at evening throws its lanterns on the tide,
And pale reflections answer from the drowned and silent side.
They do not call the river kind, though still they bless its name,
For it carries law and hunger through the graveyard and the flame.

2095/7500

(Verse 1) They poled the Mississippi where the lock bells crowned the shore, Through towns that measured every toll and opened every door. The barges carried grain and salt beneath a fever sky, While drowned wards watched in silence as the living drifted by. (Verse 2) At Harrow Lock the judges kept their ledgers clean and wide, With witness marks for every craft that trusted to the tide. They read the river warnings when the red flags climbed the mast, And named each flooded district where the Pale had settled fast. (Chorus) On the river of pale reflections, they sailed by law and flame, Where every landing counted debt and every ward had name. The water bore their hunger, and the water bore their dead, While rumours from the far towns moved like lanterns up ahead. (Verse 3) The flood farms bent to season with their beans and winter grain, And sent their sacks by ferry through the fever and the rain. No hidden sickness travelled where the river courts could see, For one false cough could close a lock and starve a family. (Verse 4) They argued toll and passage where the warning boards were hung, While children learned the river law before the work songs sung. The drowned dead owned no cargo, yet their names were never sold, And every salvaged medicine was witnessed, sealed, and told. (Chorus) On the river of pale reflections, they sailed by law and flame, Where every landing counted debt and every ward had name. The water bore their hunger, and the water bore their dead, While rumours from the far towns moved like lanterns up ahead. (Bridge) They knew the Reach could save them when the grain boats came in line, And knew the Reach could drown them when the levees lost their sign. So barge and court and floodplain made a covenant of breath, To keep the living moving past the windows full of death. (Outro) Now every lock at evening throws its lanterns on the tide, And pale reflections answer from the drowned and silent side. They do not call the river kind, though still they bless its name, For it carries law and hunger through the graveyard and the flame.

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