One Man's Shame - William Elliott Whitmore

Don’t alter my altar

Don’t desecrate my shrine

My church is the water

And my home is underneath the shady pines

Don’t underestimate the spine in a poor man’s back

When it’s against the wall and his future’s black

One man’s story is another man’s shame

I ain’t bound for glory, I’m bound for flames

Take to the woods boy, and cover up your tracks

Go away child and don’t look back

Sad is the lullaby from a mother’s heart and soul

When she knows her child has strayed from the foal

The parish will perish

By death’s cruel hand

And finish the job that fate began

All that static in the attic

That’s just an old drunk ghost

His chains are rattlin' but his end is close

Ain’t no hell below and ain’t no heaven above

I came for the drinks but I stayed for the love