The galley

Pulling the weight up against the wind

Is the plight of the galley slave

Chained to this cold bench, six to the oar

Sentenced to an early grave

With iron in our souls and fire in our wrists

Slicing the waves and the sea

Rotting below, they'll not let us go

Only mutiny or death set us free

Arms grow numb and the blood doth drip

To the beat of the drum, from the crack of the whip

We're damned, to the galley

We're chained, to the galley of pain

We're damned, to the galley

We're slaves, chained to the galley of pain

"The salt made the oar handles like shark skin

And our lips we're cut to the gums

And you whipped us because: we could not row"

“Will you never let us go?"

Splintered and split, the hands of the doomed

Endlessly toil by the hour

Bodies broken, shackled with hatred

As the soul grows sour

Off in the distance, the cry of the gulls

And the smell of approaching land

With our last ounce of strength, we pull to the shore

And dream to escape if we can

But Sirens attack, with their songs of love

Mermaids surround us as off we shove

Our arms still numb and the blood still drips

To the beat of the drum, from the crack of the whip

Damned, to the galley

We're chained, to the galley of pain

Damned, to the galley

We're slaves, chained to the galley of pain

We're rotting in the galley hole

Damned, to the galley

We're chained, to the galley of pain

We're damned, to the galley

We're slaves, chained to the galley of pain

Only death can set us free