Lyrics One Man's Shame - William Elliott Whitmore

One Man's Shame

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