Hound’s tooth

long ago the moon was bright
and the birds sang all through the night
but now there’s no more night
and now the birds are just bone
and the moon’s just a heavy heavy stone
and you can’t figure out why the trees are all withered
and the wind just hasn’t blown
in years
seems like it’s been years
this place is just a dead name
on a dead man’s tongue
but now you’re here and there’s nowhere left to run
one time it was hot here
now it’s very cold
seems you were young when you got here
now you’re very old
once you wanted silver
once you wanted gold
now you just want to lie down
and turn to dirt, and dust, and mold

the hound’s tooth in your pocket
you pulled from your good boy’s mouth as he lay dyin’
when you hold it in your hand
it makes you laugh out loud just as you’re cryin’

the viper’s fang on a leather band
that you wear around your throat
you ripped from a serpent’s mouth
in a place that might once have been named Eden
but now you’re here
and there’s no one here
to listen(hear) to your beggin’, and your pleadin’
no sky or sun for you to rejoice in
when you clench that viper’s fang inside your fist
the only thing that you can wish
is that the thing was still full up with poison
there’s nothing to rejoice in
when you hold that fang inside your fist
the only thing that you can wish
is that the damn thing was still full up with poison

you’ve been here an hour
or a hundred years if it’s been a day
it doesn’t make a lick of difference
for here you’ll always stay

there is nothing to rejoice in
when you hold that viper’s fang inside your fist
the only thing that you can wish
is that it was still full up with poison.