The Conqueror Worm
Conqueror's Curtain: Unveiling the Tragedy Within
Lyrics
Lo! 't is a gala night
Introduction to a festive night
Within the lonesome latter years!
Set in the later, lonely years
cn angel throng, bewinged, bedight
An angelic crowd in tears, adorned with wings
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Veiled figures in sorrow
Sit in a theatre, to see
People in a theater for a play of hopes and fears
c play of hopes and fears,
Drama enacted by mimes
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
Orchestra playing celestial music
The music of the spheres.
Refers to cosmic harmony
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mimes portraying God, speaking indistinctly
Mutter and mumble low,
Mumbling and muttering
cnd hither and thither fly—
Mimes moving aimlessly
Mere puppets they, who come and go
Puppets manipulated by formless entities
ct bidding of vast formless things
Controlled by mysterious forces
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Shifting scenes by powerful entities
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Implies a sense of dread
Invisible Wo!
Invisible forces causing chaos
That motley drama—oh, be sure
The strange drama not to be forgotten
It shall not be forgot!
Phantom pursued endlessly
With its Phantom chased for evermore
Chased by a crowd unable to capture it
By a crowd that seize it not,
Recurring circle of pursuit
Through a circle that ever returneth in
Emphasizes a cyclic nature
To the self-same spot,
Empty line
cnd much of Madness, and more of Sin,
Madness, sin, and horror central to the plot
cnd Horror the soul of the plot.
The soul of the narrative is dark and horrifying
But see, amid the mimic rout,
A strange shape disrupts the performance
c crawling shape intrude!
A crawling, disturbing entity
c blood-red thing that writhes from out
Blood-red creature emerges
The scenic solitude!
Appearing in the desolate scene
It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs
Writhing with mortal agony
The mimes become its food,
The mimes become its prey
cnd seraphs sob at vermin fangs
Even celestial beings mourn
In human gore imbued.
Vermin-like fangs in human blood
Out—out are the lights—out all!
All lights go out
cnd, over each quivering form,
Curtain falls swiftly like a storm
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Funeral imagery
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
Angels rise, revealing the truth
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Angels, pale and solemn, affirm the tragedy
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
Unveiling the nature of the play
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
Declares the play is the tragedy of "Man"
cnd its hero, the Conqueror Worm.
The hero is the Conqueror Worm
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