You wore your secrets with a smile,

while shadows gathered just behind.

But none could ever dim my love,

you were the home I hoped to find.

I never knew what debt you owed,

what bargain held the dark at bay,

until black rain bruised the fields

and split the earth right where you lay.

Your pact was signed in blood and ash,

till hell came howling for its due.

The ground unstitched beneath your feet

then closed its hungry mouth on you.

I found your ribbon in the mire,

still warm with all I failed to save.

I pressed it trembling to my lips

and swore to follow past the grave.

Bar every gate and break the bells,

let heaven cast me from the sky.

I’ll wear damnation like a crown

and kiss salvation’s hand goodbye.

If grace demands I must let go,

then grace shall shatter ’neath the knell.

Our bond defies the reach of light ...

for you, my love ...

I’ll burn in hell.

I used to keep a lantern lit

for strangers freezing at my door.

I broke my bread with starving men

and always gave a little more.

My road was bound for sacred dawn,

where angels sing and halos shine,

but without you, the heavens seemed

like a gilded cage divine.

I begged the Devil in despair:

“Please, drag me down, I’m yours to take”...

he came and answered with a grin:

“Not yet … amuse me while you break" ...

"Your soul is still too clean for me,

your grief too pure to waste;

Go stain it in the living world ...

then claim your rightful place.”

So I forsook each chapel hymn

and made my life a slow descent.

I sinned until the blackened throne

would deem me worthy in the end.

Bar every gate and break the bells,

let heaven cast me from the sky.

I’ll wear damnation like a crown

and kiss salvation’s hand goodbye.

If grace demands I must let go,

then grace shall shatter ’neath the knell.

Our bond defies the reach of light ...

for you, my love ...

I’ll burn in hell.

I learned what evil asks of men,

then paid it more than it desired.

I strangled every mercy still alive

and fed its remnants to the fire.

I heard the helpless call my name,

and watched their final embers go.

With every act of cruelty,

I carved my path below.

Not for pleasure, not for wealth,

not for the Devil’s ruthless reign.

I damned myself to reach your side ...

to hold you once again.

I still remember who I was:

a faithful man, a kinder son.

He would have wept to see me now

At what I have become.

But I buried him beneath the road

with every warmth he used to hold.

Say love made wreckage out of me ...

but here's what's true

I descended willingly.

Bar every gate and break the bells,

let heaven cast me from the sky.

I’ll wear damnation like a crown

and kiss salvation’s hand goodbye.

If grace demands I must let go,

then grace must shatter ’neath the knell.

Our bond outlasts the darkest night—

for you, my love ...

I'll burn in hell ...

(he'll burn in ... he'll burn in hell)

For you I'll burn in hell.

(he'll burn in ... he'll burn in hell)

Burn in hell!