The Clerical Conspiracy (2007 - Remaster)

I have wealth beyond measure, my treasures are words
Forged by time in a tale of such beauty, they cry to be heard
Still a young fool was I, as my story begins
Yet like all fools considered myself to be wise
A match for all things, but the lessons I've learned
I will never forget, when your teacher is life then
Success is survival and failure is death

From early years I saw the world through tunnel-vision eyes
My cloistered mind philosophized and fossilized
Secure in my belief was I, assured throughout my life
The only things that could sustain me were the words of Jesus Christ

"There is no way to fight a foe who strikes from the inside
And once within we can begin to smite this pagan pride
We shall take their graven images and grind them in the dirt
For that men can live in paradise must be the Devils work"

The clerical conspiracy begins, we shall wash away your sins
We have come to purify, to purge you of your liberty
Absolve you of all sanity, the 'truth' you want to hear
We shall provide

The clerical conspiracy begins, we shall wash away your sins
We have come to purify, to purge you of your liberty
Absolve you of all sanity, the 'truth' you want to hear
We shall provide

"How can we hope to save these heathen
When we know not of their ways?
One of us must journey southward, infiltrate and then assuage
Only when we have this knowledge can we finalise our plans
Greet them with a velvet glove, then crush them 'neath an iron hand
Iron hand

Christian soldiers armed with virtue
Hearts afire with blind obsession
Cannot see the difference 'twixt compassion and oppression

These were the days I believed that salvation was mine
When I worshipped apostles, believing their gospels to be divine
My life drifted by in a warm summer haze
And I thought I would bathe in the light of our lord 'til the end of my days
But my destiny mocked me and my fate did bequest
That the strength of my faith in the Lord God Almighty be put to the test

"My son, your word is matchless, as a scribe you have been blessed
Your skill and faith in God doth qualify you for our quest
You will sail to Southern England and recount their blasphemies
For the first step in their cure must be to learn of their disease"

For one so young, so great an honour to be chosen for this task
Have I the stength, would I be worthy?
Questions that I dared not ask
Was I to be a missionary searching for lost souls to save
Or just another pawn in their monastic power games?"

The clerical conspiracy begins, we wash away your sins
We have to purify, to purge you of your liberty
Absolve you of all sanity, the 'truth' you want to hear
We shall provide

The clerical conspiracy begins, we wash away your sins
We have come to purify, to purge you of your liberty
Absolve you of all sanity, the 'truth' you want to hear
We shall provide

"How can we hope to save these heathen
When we know not of their ways?
You, Wat Brand, must journey southward, infiltrate and then assuage
Only when we have this knowledge can we finalise our plans
Greet them with a velvet glove, then crush them 'neath an iron hand
Iron hand

Christian soldiers armed with virtue
Hearts afire with blind obsession
Cannot see the difference 'twixt compassion and oppression

And so with terror in my heart, I learned what had to be
That I must tour these foriegn shores, my cross for company
Those who had preceded me, of pagan devils warned
With fearful tales of christian souls, since martyred on their horns

In my tale I will tell how we all were decieved
For in truth I was hunted, not hunter as I had believed
How could I have known that the guide they'd provide
Was to show me far more than I'd ever imagined I could have desired?
So soon would I learn what a fool I had been
There is more than one side to a coin, life is not what it seems

It's no more than a dream