When we had made our way to the fallen bridge
to which our burdened friend had alluded
And we stood on the edge of the treacherous ridge
I said I think we may have been deluded
But T.S. just said Excelsior!
And started down along the rubble where a great arch once was rooted
Over massive broken rocks we clambered for
what seemed like hours and when we hit
The bottom I saw we had another nasty climb in store
Halfway up I said I’ve had it
I felt like my lungs were gonna pop
but my guide said onward up out of this pit
and on to the next you cannot stop
this thing that you’ve begun now
and I said I’ll push until I drop
And so I put my shoulder back to the plow
and managed to make the climb
and when we saw what waited for us next I said, wow,
I ain’t never seen so many reptiles at one time
Lizards, snakes, an evil looking turtle or two
A sea of forest, emerald teal and lime
And my guide said here’s a pretty specimen for you
pointing out a man positively swarming with snakes
who seeing our attention said I’ll make you rue
the day you two day-tripping flakes
decided to intrude upon my misery
And Eliot said hold on man this won’t take
a minute and heaven knows your time is free
tell our friend here how you came to this estate
and no sooner said than we’ll just be
along our way we’ve got a date
to keep, you see with the dark prince
it wouldn’t do now would it to be late
and the man gave a snarl that made me wince
and said what’s really to tell
I killed and stole and destroyed and since
I died unrepentant I wound up in hell
Well that’s not such a great story
is it friend but mark this well
I tell you true I’m still not sorry
for the evil that I’ve done
I stalked my fellow man like quarry
I stole for sport and killed for fun
I’m a human monster and there’s many
more down here I’m not the only one
And T.S. said now see do you still think there’s any
question the divine will is just
here’s a man who would kill you for a penny
Can’t you see that sometimes evil must
simply be forced to desist
ashes to ashes kid dust to dust
there must be a place for those who insist
on making things so black
nut I said couldn’t He just make them cease to exist?
‘Cause I have to say this eternity on the rack
Seems more malice than divine
seems a lot like payback
And I’m sorry if I’ve crossed the line
But I question if His justice is the same as mine
This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here
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