Lowland Famine lyrics

Mother of famine benighted in blood The common man's plague helpless to the inevitable How can you demand such suffering of those devout? You've razed the fields and brought forth drought A future of grimness awaits those who stay blind Some pathetic tome or the passing of time Waste not want not the flesh of those lost Those bound to work thresh the yield dead from frost Upon the Moon I gaze A lowland vision appears I call upon you mother Absolve us of our fears But the night sky yields no forgiveness No resolution from that which plagues A cold and dreary silence is the answer to our prayers Mother of sufferance will punish unmercifully Candidly she watches And revels in our agony You have taken that which affords us life as if snuffing out a dying flame Gratitude is no satiation For your hunger it will not cease On our fears, our pain, our peasantry With devastating appetite our mother glibly feasts Upon the Moon I gaze A vision of lowlands lost I plead with you: Oh mother Why have you plagued us with such frost A black sky yields no forgiveness No solution for that which maims I hear our mother's laughter As her children endure such loss