Poison in the Chalice

[Intro]

Sub rosa

Sub nocte

Beneath the rose

Beneath the night

[Verse 1]

The candle gutters drowning in its wax

A breath behind the plaster answers back

I drank the vintage she bestowed with grace

Now something eyeless wears my shadow's face

The velvet dark has fastened round my feet

And every pulse repeats a deadened beat

Her perfume lingers my reflection parts

A blackened thorn is flowering in my heart

[Pre-Chorus]

Count the ravens on the sill

Count the bells that time stands still

One for sorrow two for dread

Three for all the vows I bled

Four for secrets sewn in skin

Five for what she let come in

[Chorus]

Poison in the chalice sweet as sin

A velvet veil with a viper within

She waits beneath where the roots entwine

A widow of winter her curse in mine

Poison poison crown me in sleep

Bury the promise the dead still keep

The bells toll black and the stars decline

Poison forever your soul is mine

[Instrumental]

[Verse 2]

The mirror wears a stranger's pallid stare

A borrowed face with frost instead of prayer

My hands are winter my tongue a rusted key

The words I speak belong to none but thee

I sold my name beneath a moonless sky

Now every breath lets something colder by

The roses blacken where my footsteps fall

And something in the cellar knows me all too well

[Pre-Chorus]

Roses wither roses rot

Blooming round a vacant plot

Down the staircase shadows creep

Calling through walls that weep

I curse the hand that sealed my fate

Something answers from beyond the gate

[Chorus]

Poison in the chalice sweet as sin

A velvet veil with a viper within

She waits beneath where the roots entwine

A widow of winter her curse in mine

Poison poison crown me in sleep

Bury the promise the dead still keep

The bells toll black and the stars decline

Poison forever your soul is mine

[Bridge]

I am hollow I am howling

Hear the buried branches growling

I am breathing under stone

I am flesh that isn't my own

Take me downward take me deep

Past the vows the graveyards keep

Where the mourners lose their names

Where the dead remember flames

Beneath the yew

Beyond the veil

The bride of black

The final nail

She never drank alone

[Instrumental]

[Final Chorus]

Poison in the chalice sweet as sin

The final winter is closing in

She waits beneath where the roots entwine

Her mouth is a grave and her kiss is mine

Poison poison swallow the deep

Seal every promise the deadmen keep

The moon turns blood and the stars resign

Poison eternal your soul is mine

[Final Refrain]

Poison in the chalice

Ashes in the snow

Poison in the chalice

Nowhere left to go

Poison in the chalice

Hear the black bells chime

Poison poison

[Outro]

Let me sleep

Where the dead roots creep

Let me sleep

She never drank alone