1992 Say It Five Times

Mirror sweating in the dark

Sugar stuck beneath the sink

Five names floating under glass

One more breath before you blink

She came in looking for the shape of grief

Filed it under legend, kept it brief

She stood before the glass and held her doubt

A hooked man with bees inside his mouth

She said the hook was just a man with a name

The blood just evidence, the candles just flame

The fog outside just a trick of the light

But the mirror answered back in the dead of night

One for the man that the mob burned down

Two for the bees in a honeycomb crown

Three for the hand replaced with a hook

Four for the fire — one more look

Say It Five Times

See the legend do its thing

Say It Five Times

The sweetness shows its sting

Say It Five Times

Feel the hook behind the hymn

Say It Five Times

Let the dark come crawling in

She followed the honey to his hollow room

Coat open wide, the bees already consumed

The painting on the cathedral wall

Wore her own face above the candle sprawl

He said: before the name I was a man

Before the torch I had a child, a hand

You buried me in myth to keep me small

Say my name again and watch it all fall

One for the man that the mob burned down

Two for the bees in a honeycomb crown

Three for the hand replaced with a hook

Four for the fire — one more look

Say It Five Times

See the legend do its thing

Say It Five Times

The sweetness shows its sting

Say It Five Times

Feel the hook behind the hymn

Say It Five Times

Let the dark come crawling in

She said it at first like it wasn’t real

Say it again and the bees break the seal

She never believed a name could open a door

But grief has been answering since long before

You don’t summon a monster by saying its name

You summon the violence the city won’t claim

The hook is the history, the bees hum with grief

The mirror just shows you the truth underneath

One. Two.

Glass fogs over

Three. Four.

Hook at your shoulder

One more time

No more doubt

Rip you open

Guts spill out

Say It Five Times

See the legend do its thing

Say It Five Times

The sweetness shows its sting

Say It Five Times

Feel the hook behind the hymn

Say It Five Times

Let the dark come crawling in