Lyrics The Case of William Smith - Astronautalis

The Case of William Smith

William holds his palm out proud
Upon the Bible, lays it down
And solemnly swears against it
That every word is true
Searching through the faceless crowd
In the hallowed auditorium
He sees that everyone’s turned against him
And his endless pursuit
The saga that he spells out
Has mothers grabbing children
Grown men twisting mustaches
As priests smooth out their suits
But William hammers right along
And ignores the banging gavel of
The judge’s plea for order
In the chaos of the room
Outside my cell
There is an oak that grows
Through the fence line
And towards the sun
They built a barrier of barbs
Flush but against its bark
And still its burls unfurl
Into branches strong
The silver thorns that hem in my hole
Snare me here through sun and snow
While barbs may scar
They cannot stop the mighty Oak
Burgeoning upward and out
This figure made out
The persistence that’d been made
Stopped by its daggered escape route
Once it finally stands tall
The limbs will make the fence fall
The slowest getaway car
That the guard ever saw
The warden scratches his bald patches
Raised his arms in the air
And wondered how this happened
Despite his decades to prepare
In this I found the faith
You’d see my sentence a mistake
Discharge me from this place
And reinstate me in your grace
The truth will set you free one day
My father promised me
But I’d never thought
The truth would come this way, quite honestly
William holds his palm out proud
Upon the Bible, lays it down
And solemnly swear against it
That every word is true
Searching through the faceless crowd
In the hallowed auditorium
He sees that everyone is turned against him
And his endless pursuit
If you’d have told me back then
That the words from my pen
Would’ve branded me a paynim
I’d have never changed a damn thing
I’m sure it’s shocking to your ears
That the treatise you revere
Would suffer such assessment
At the stylus of a confrere
But I am more than well aware
Of how you all were unprepared
To stare into the sun
As a means to pick apart its flares
Covenant in question
And career upon the line
I suffer your reckless sanctions
With a clarity of mind
The charges that you lay
Against my character and faith
Will burden you with shame
When you face the Prince in paradise
And He knows as well as I
That the heralds can carol flat songs
The refrain rate’s familiar
But the words just seem a tad wrong
God is just a breath away
He lives a kiss from your lips
While the message can mutate as it
Drifts from mount to chisel tips
So this is it
My suffering sings its swan song
Suspicion sets me sovereign
From restriction of your sad bonds
You edit me from existence
For continuity
May the Lord be always in your footsteps
To document your lunacy
William holds his palm out proud
Upon the Bible, lays it down
And solemnly swears against it
That every word is true
Searching through the faceless crowd
In the hallowed auditorium
He sees that everyone is turned against him
And his endless pursuit
The saga that he spells out
Has mothers grabbing children
Grown men twisting mustaches
As priests smooth out their suits
But William hammers right along
And ignores the banging gavel of
The judges plea for order
In the chaos of the room