A Punjab lasso From an iron tree hung Filled with fear The Persian now knew where they were The torture chamber Mirrors reflected the sun Scorching their flesh, blistered and raw On the floor a trapdoor found As they bent lower into the ground Down a dark and dirty staircase Into a cellar A cellar filled with old oak kegs The stopper prised, they gazed inside But wine was not what they held The threat was real He threatened to kill everyone Lest his hand in marriage I took Till eleven I have to choose Twixt a wedding or funeral And so in going down They reached the darkest depths Trickling through their fingers Gunpowder soft and lethal To the heart of the hall they went Erik’s threats they heard were real If your answer is still no Then the hall will be no more He threatened to kill everyone Gone completely mad with love Till eleven I have to choose Twixt a wedding or funeral Choose wisely my dear The scorpion, or the acridid Your refusal will mean Annihilation, for all of us The scorpion, she turned flooding the room And honour the bargain she would To Erik she gave herself A living wife, he kissed her she did not die The golden ring she lost There in the palm of his hand This will be my wedding gift From poor unhappy Erik You are free, go now take him and leave Those words ripped shreds From a heart held by a thread I made her swear, when I died She would be there And bury me by the lake With the ring in secrecy Yes she was waiting for me Alive, a living fiancé When shy as a child I came Towards her, she did not sway No, no, she stayed, waited for me You cannot know how it felt When even my mother scorned me His lungs half filled with water Raoul was sure death came for him Christine held him up Hand in hand they left They fled, from the dark Recovering in his room One night the Persian woke By the fire a figure loomed There’s not long left for me I set them free On a train northbound they leave I have lived an evil life This is my redemption Forgive me, for all the pain I’ve caused He was sent with a voice from god He who haunts the halls All alone he will die