[Intro] [Lute plucked slow; low drone; tavern murmur fades] I walked to the square when the bells did toll, The air hung thick, and the sky had no soul. [Verse 1] [Lute steady; soft hand‑drum like distant boots] The ropes were drawn like the teeth of a snare, Five men waiting, five heads bare. The hangman’s eyes were colder than stone, I watched their feet claw air alone. [Verse 2] [Lute and frame drum; fiddle holds a single thin note] A mother wept, her hands turned red, She raked the mud as her son hung dead. The crowd all cheered while I kept still, I heard the silence their throats can’t fill. [Verse 3] [Lute bare; breath close; no drum] One thief smiled when the boards gave way, As if to spit at the light of day. His shadow danced as the crows took flight, I drank that grin through a sleepless night. [Bridge] [Hurdy‑gurdy drone swells; drum slows to a heartbeat] They say the gallows feed on sin, But I saw the hunger born within. No crow, no rope, no law, no flame— Just men devouring men by name. [Outro] [Lute knocks wood once; strings fade to hush] So I sing of the feast, bile thick in my smile, And carry their faces another mile.
