Devil in the Basement

An inherited guilt I bear

My home, my haven, raised I was here
Through summers superb and winters austere
Our family's home for generations elapsed
It was rectified, fortified, registered, taxed

But ever since I started living here alone
From the shadows now and then echoes quietly a moan
A lament without mourner, a story without teller
A naked accuser waits down in the cellar

Whispering from the walls
Lurking through the halls

I start to dream of a desiccated spring
Surrounded by skinny bodies that to it cling
With different skin and faces not like mine
I wake up drenched in sweat, suspecting a crime

And so, in the cadastre I'm looking for a clue
To find this house's worth didn't gradually accrue
It was taken in a flash, evidence then swiftly razed
Then replaced with a new culture and haughty self-praise

Realize this was never mine
As from the walls I hear it chime

"The land you flagrantly claimed, it harbours no truth"
Voices shrill accuse, I know no excuse
For the sin in our nation's youth

The devil in the basement, he's screaming my name
Racks me in my dreams, while he plots and schemes
His stories of theft and rape and shame

Fear struck I run home
The air now feels noisome
All the houses look the same
And all neighbours bear my frame

Shut the door, lock it, bar windows, then rush to arms
Peek through windows, neighbours now viciously contorting forms
From below hear him, run upstairs, but still now calm
From the hall croaking, he draws near, to bear my qualm

And now I lie awake in my bed, the gun clenched in my fist as I feel

These walls were built for a ghost, to harbour the truth
But we spoiled it all, sold out who we are
Renamed the land to find that there's

A devil in the basement, he's screeching my name
Knows my every groove, controls my every move
A mere pawn in his cursed game

It all has been stolen, it's all been a lie
Millions purified cry from heavens high
Even in sleep I keep an open eye

For no one came to help me, and I am alone
From his hellish throne came so I atone
As from the corner of the room I hear him groan

Aloft his glowing eyes two horns trump, in a bellow he speaks

"Shed thy hope
For thou are mine
No god will take thee from my arms again."