[Verse]

Down where the winding alleyways begin

Below the hollow chest and paper skin

The gates of hunger open wide and deep

Into the silent valley where the nutrients creep

A dozen inches curved like a crescent moon

To meet the acid bile and settle soon

[Verse]

This initial stretch where the fire meets the flood

Preparing every drop for the flowing blood

The pancreatic messengers arrive in haste

To break the heavy iron and the bitter taste

A bridge of iron and a gate of gold

Turning the stories that the stomach told

[Chorus]

First the duodenum takes the heavy blow

Then through the jejunum where the riches flow

The ileum waits at the journey's end

To gather every scrap around the final bend

A mile of velvet in a narrow space

Carrying the life through this hidden place

[Verse]

Now the middle passage opens broad and wide

Where the feathery villi sway with every tide

Sucking the sugar from the ghost of grain

Feeding the muscle and the dreaming brain

No longer stones but a liquid stream of light

Moving through the tunnels in the body's night

[Verse]

The walls are dancing in a rhythmic squeeze

Moving the cargo with a restless ease

Absorption blooming like a garden bed

Until the hunger and the ghost are fed

Nothing is wasted in this winding hall

The smallest fragment answers to the call

[Pre-Chorus]

The road is long and the walls are thin

Filtering the world that was taken in

From the upper gate to the lower door

Seeking the soul of what came before

[Chorus]

First the duodenum takes the heavy blow

Then through the jejunum where the riches flow

The ileum waits at the journey's end

To gather every scrap around the final bend

A mile of velvet in a narrow space

Carrying the life through this hidden place