The Hymn Of Kassiani

I've heard that they call me the woman Who has fallen into many sins They made me bear myrrh to the burial And at the graveside, I began to sing Woe to me, all of you sinners I'm the lady of a moonless night The darkness to me is my ecstasy But for my sins I am far from contrite They dragged me away from the library I was cast to the bride-show's harsh light Where I told the king I was better than him And thus earned Theophilus' spite And Theo, he thinks I still love him But I know him, and he knows not a thing They call me Kassiani The woman who rejected the king Now the emperor, he tore down the icons The images and words thought divine But in the quiet of my cell I redrew them all And the name that I signed with was mine I was scourged with the lash for my impudence My tears were a fountain of brine But I conceded no defeat, my groaning heart beats With defiant blue blood Byzantine And Theo, he thinks I still love him But I know him, and he knows not a thing Don't disregard me as a servant, know me As the woman who rejected the king Yes I hid from his eyes when he visited But don't dare think me frightened or meek I was sick of his ineffable condescension And I will not kiss those sacred feet I will make his footsteps into music To be heard by both heathen and Greek They will mock his meanderings in Paradise at twilight And they'll remember me, Kassiani She who hates silence when it's time to speak And Theo, he thinks I still love him He knows not the multitude of my sins They will sing my song after Byzantium has gone The woman who rejected the king I've heard all the things that they've called me It's just so many arrows and slings Leave the glory to the stepmother, and to the son I'm the woman who rejected the king --- The Hymn of Kassiani - Frank Turner