SERPENTINE    

The devil they say may set you free
Free to choose a while
So seeking respite from what we see  
We're mastered by a traitor's smile 

Truth’s revealed by gentle friends
And strangers who trade in pain
Whose unkind words may set you free
Or snare your heart in chains 

The way is straight, narrow the gate  
But whose fate is divined?
It goes to show each road we know
At last is serpentine…  oh serpentine…  

When each stranger’s glance is a loaded gun
Beneath a sun that burns
Men will flee into dreams  
Some cannot return  

Broken faith can revive a man  
Or turn his dreams to dust
Mystery may waste his soul  
Or teach him how to trust 

The way is straight, narrow the gate  
But whose fate is divined?
It goes to show each road we know
At last is serpentine…  oh serpentine…  

Some loves like spring’s first buds  
Flourish to brightly die
Other loves like desert flowers
Thrive beneath barren skies  

We cast our hope into wishing wells
Spanning bright heaven and blackest hell
With nothing certain but what fate ordains
And what the stars may tell   

The way is straight, narrow the gate  
But whose fate is divined?
It goes to show each road we know
At last is serpentine…  oh serpentine…