Across the bridge that spanned the gap
We came to a sloping plain
That ended a mile or two from the ledge of the eight gap
We had crossed in our tour of the valley of pain
And the Poet took me by the arm
And said there is the final drain
Whence flows all the evil and the harm
That men create in all their days on earth
And we will test the limits of the charm
That’s forced the denizens of hell to give us berth
when we come to the center of that hole
We’ll test what His promises are worth
Still it is where we must achieve our goal
So keep your faith strong within you
And with that we began our descent into the great bowl
that ended in a hole that was two
thousand miles across or more it seemed
And as we came near a mighty trumpet blew
And I peered through the smoke and I thought I dreamed
Far ahead I thought I saw a skyline
I imagined hell’s highrises and tenements that teemed
With all the souls who fell to the final incline
of that inexorable downward slope
I thought their fate would soon be mine
But when I asked T.S. about it he said nope
The distance and the smoke deceive your eyes
As we draw closer you’ll see a sight to test your hope
And as I squinted at what I had took for a highrise
I saw a sight that nearly stopped my heart
For before me stood a man of monstrous size
When he shifted it gave me a dreadful start
I knew a giant a hundredth of his height
could effortlessly tear me apart
But Eliot said these creatures will not fight
Seeing the evidence of my fear
At this unexpected sight
These guardians know why we’re here
We’ve an appointment with the Prince of flies
They guard the ring the final tier
We have to cross, and past that lies
only the void at the center of the underworld
Where we must cast off all earthly ties
That we have left to go where the devil’s curled
Around himself in the evil core of hell
At the center of it the pit where he was hurled
And after that I cannot truly tell
But first we must attain that central well
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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