Butcheress

Agnus Dei, he made and ate of me

This church

It was once a barn, they say

Perfume of myrrh

And swine manure forever curse this place

When church bells chime

They rattle loose rooster plumes and hay

Proving you can sure as hell try

But your past never scrubs away

God birthed me cursed

So I asked the Father how I could be saved, he said

"He birthed you perfect, for God makes no mistakes

But to the farmer's daughter

My heart is tethered, and I think we're soulmates"

So in the same breath, he said

"Then you better repent every day"

I made myself my

I made myself my butcheress

Wiping blood down the front of my nice white dress

Took a cleaver, carved my heart out

For a taste of claimed saintliness

At the hand of a holy man who never fully gave a damn

I became a butcheress

Had I different skin, I'd get to pickin' her cornflower bouquets

Or kissin' in stables, bare backs scrapin' 'gainst hay

But I'm no man, no butcher boy, just flesh and blood and shame

So I take a meat hammer and bash my legs 'till I forget her name

I made myself my

I made myself my butcheress

Wiping blood down the front of my nice white dress

Took a cleaver, carved my heart out

For a taste of claimed saintliness

At the hand of a holy man who never fully gave a damn

I became a butcheress

I pass the farmer's daughter, on the way to work every dawn

Between us hums our forgotten song of God

If this church was once a barn, like they said

Could this church ever be a barn again?

Could a girl unlearn false cries to sin?

Could a butcher shed her lamb's bloodied skin?

If this church was once a barn, like they said

Could this church ever be a barn again?

Could a girl unlearn false cries to sin?

Could a butcher shed her lamb's bloodied skin?

Agnus Dei, he made and ate of me

I made myself my

I made myself my butcheress

Wiping blood down the front of my nice white dress

Took a cleaver, carved my heart out

For a taste of claimed saintliness

At the hand of a holy man who never fully gave a damn

I became a butcheress