[Verse 1]
Old road
Red dust in my teeth
Leather bible full of names
Crossed out beneath the heat
Saw a house
Where the gravel turns to bone
Smoke crawling from the chimney
Like it knew I’d come alone
[Chorus]
In the temple of the ember moon
She said
“Child
You came too soon”
Silver tongue
Black perfume
I’m burning
In the temple of the ember moon
Can’t run
Can’t leave this room
Every prayer turns into doom
I’m turning
I’m turning
[Verse 2]
Cold glass
Lantern hanging low
Cards laid out like bodies
On a cracked oak table’s glow
Snake ring
On a trembling hand
She smiled like a funeral
Said
“I own this land” (oh yeah)
[Chorus]
In the temple of the ember moon
She said
“Child
You came too soon”
Silver tongue
Black perfume
I’m burning
In the temple of the ember moon
Can’t run
Can’t leave this room
Every hope becomes a wound
I’m learning
I’m learning
[Bridge]
[Organ and guitar trade slow
Wailing phrases over a circling bass line]
She carved my name in the ash
Then blew it through my chest
Said
“You can crawl back to the road
But you’ll never leave the nest” (never leave, never leave)
Now every shadow hums her tune
Every scar repeats her rune
[Chorus]
In the temple of the ember moon
Every step
The same old doom
Silver tongue
Black perfume
I’m burning
In the temple of the ember moon
Marked by fire
Bound to bloom
If I die
I die in tune
Still turning
Still turning (oh)
Still turning