I WAS YOUNG AND I WAS A LOVER

OF ALL THINGS OBSCURE AND UNFIT FOR THE WORLD

MY EYES LONGING AT ONCE TO CAPTURE

WHAT MAKES A MAN AND WHO TAKES THE PEARL

ONLY THREE-YEARS OF AGE YET I RECALL NATURE

IT BECKONED OUR EVERY MOVE THROUGHOUT THE LAND

HIS EYES FOCUSED ON HIS HANDS AND HIS HORSE

MINE FIXED ON THE ARM OF THIS MAN 

WE FOUND A PLACE TO STOP AND THE HORSES THEY’D DRINK

THE POND FULL OF MUD, A CURIOUS SORT OF INK

I BEGGED HIS FORGIVENESS BUT ASKED ONCE AGAIN

FOR A GLIMPSE OF THE BEAST AND OF THE STORY WITHIN

PULL UP HIS SLEEVE TO SATISFY MY EYES

A GROWL AND UP MY EARS WOULD PERK LIKE A DOG I’S MYSTIFIED

FIRST A SHOCK, THEN A STARE, THEN A LAUGHTER SO LOUD

A MOMENT WITH NOTHING TO FEAR, A DISPOSITION SO AWFULLY PROUD

I REMEMBER THIS MAN FONDLY 

DEATH CANNOT TAKE AWAY MUCH FROM ME

AND THE PANTHER TATTOOED ON HIS ARM

I TOOK FROM HIS SKIN AND PLACED IT ON ME

THE BEAST TODAY IS A JOYFUL SYMBOL

YET VISIONS OF THE PAST ARE NOT GRANTED TO ME

INSTEAD HE LEFT ME VISIONS OF THE FUTURE 

A PATH TO SATISFY ANOTHER’S CURIOSITIES 

NEVER IN MY OLD LIFE DID I IMAGINE

SUCH SIMPLE BEAUTY WAS UP MY SLEEVE

IT TOOK A YOUNG MAN JUST 3 YEARS OF AGE

MY PANTHER IS HIS WHENEVER I LEAVE

                                                                                      | RHETT BURCH