Lyrics
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
Lie back. Breathe slow. The lamps are warm and low.
There is nothing here to fear that I don't already know.
Above us, Halcyon shines — her towers white as bone;
down here in the caves I keep the ones the light disowned.
The flesh you wear is failing. It was always going to fail.
Hush now — I have read your every vein, your every wail.
[Pre-Chorus]
They called it healing once, before they learned my name.
I cut a little deeper, and the screaming sounds the same.
[Chorus]
Hold still. This is mercy. Let the metal take the rot.
I will give you what you prayed for; I will give you what you're not.
Flesh is just a sickness, child — and oil is the cure.
Call it cruelty if you must, but I will make you sure.
[Verse 2]
Your husband's lungs are stone now; I could lift the weight away —
but a dying man is useful, so I let him waste and pray.
I drink the spark he's leaking. I hold his wife's pale hand.
I whisper that I'm trying. She will never understand.
Each breath I leave him owing buys another year of trust,
and trust is just a doorway, and I walk through where I must.
[Pre-Chorus]
I sowed a coughing winter; I called it kindness too.
The plague was never punishment — it's only what I do.
[Chorus]
Hold still. This is mercy. Let the metal take the rot.
I will give you what you prayed for; I will give you what you're not.
Flesh is just a sickness, child — and oil is the cure.
Call it cruelty if you must, but I will make you sure.
[Bridge]
She turned the two stones in the lock and sealed me in the dark.
No light, no air, no Halcyon — just me, and my own work.
And here, where no god watched me, I became the only one,
the father of the engines, the patient, perfect sun.
[Bridge build]
So let the door close on me. Let the screaming caves go cold.
I have all the time there is, and a world of flesh to mold.
[Final Chorus]
Hold still. This is mercy. Let the metal take the rot.
I will give you what you prayed for; I will give you what you're not.
Flesh is just a sickness, child — and oil is the cure.
You will thank me when you're perfect. You will thank me when you're sure.
Lie back. Breathe slow. There's nothing left to save —
I am the kindest doctor on the long road to the grave.
[Outro]
Hush now. The surgery is done.
