Song Lyrics to “Incense for a Ghost”

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Her skin, it shimmers like a moonlit river

In the cold midnight air, hear the echoes of her timbre 

Feel her goosebumps rise, but you’ll never touch her

’Cause what is a shadow but a mirror of its lover?


Her eyes are slits carved through her fortress

Amidst the mist, glimpse her wolven glimmer

Only the full moon knows her, not the crescent or the gibbous

’Cause what is a lover but a wandering spectre?


Love, love can’t be extracted by force

It’s snuffed out by pried-open palms

Love, love can’t be won with wrested arms

It’s a flame that only brings warmth freely


If the heart is a muscle— (oh wait, it is)

Then it must be overgrown from this endless labour

Climbing up the hill to offer incense to my goddess

Only to be crushed each dusk under the weight of the boulder


Love, love can’t be extracted by force

It’s snuffed out by pried-open palms

Love, love can’t be won with wrested arms

It’s a flame that only brings warmth freely


So I would set you free, but a feral can’t be tethered

A cage is a cage, no matter how big or bejewelled

And a wild thing is a wild thing, even laced in codes and corsets

For love can only grow when its roots are free to roam



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