Purring, the sweet-tempered soughing Of lucrative savannah wind Stirs the great flotsam of clouds that are vowing To usher the evening in Affecting the set of the reckoning sun From burnished gold to crimson hue Before this night is quite sorely undone The Devil is coming for you Like a ghost haunting the darkness Stalking the veldt Where many kings were felled A savage growling rakes this grassy vastness Halting you in the tracks you've laid To rule this fulsome world Now silent as a wisp of smoke Terror grips you by the throat You will know the lion by his claw Mistaking fake demeanour Was your first and fatal flaw Never will the hunter Ever be the hunted Here or evermore Taking my arena Brought this courted slaughter to your door I am nature's great restorer First order Carnivora Fate and foe, no time to implore Mercy for she has fled Tail tucked between her legs Circled prey, recant and beg To me alone, this powder keg Of teeth and jaws together In a riot of adventure I am Leonine and ten commandments Cut deep for your death Damnatio ad bestias Through limitless whispering seas Of redolent tropical plains Whereupon mystery's blistery frieze A silvering gibbous moon reigns Aggressive, obsessive to snuff out your lights I come a cold virulent grue Blighting your guides and delighting inside On the pride that is tiding for you As a beast feasting its hunger Under this spell Rifles and fire shall not repel Industrious machinations rent asunder No miring me in traps well-laid I'll not pale to unveil my Hell You will know the lion by his claw This violence is a plague of flame Licking the brush to flush out game A bellow of rage caged in yellow eyes Sees evil life seized, unleashed reprisal You will know the lion by his claw Mistaking fake demeanour Was your first and fatal flaw Never will the hunter Ever be the hunted Here or evermore Taking my arena Brought this courted slaughter to your door You will know the lion by his claw Now hear the growing thunder roar Damnatio ad bestias The walls of brackish thorn have fallen Batterfang and chaos Quick to marshal, maul the fools Who stand by shattered loss Your shadow scatters westward Toward the fleeing stars As a new dawn feeds upon the skies Hearldic, rampant, battle-scarred Damnatio ad bestias