Die Kreatur mit der stählernen Maske [English translation]

Metal face.

It is not mine.

Perhaps it is?

I sit in the hole.

My head is heavy.

I think, therefore I am, although: I do not know who.

Born in this steel?

Rust penetrates my pores.

This prison is so tight and far too small.

I tug at the adhesive face with all my might,

In distress, and I cannot free myself.

So it stays, as it always was

Always was:

Prison mask.

Gadzooks!

Prison mask.

So rusty red!

Prison mask.

And it does not change

how much your heart roars for freedom.

Prison mask

Remains on your face and you are enclosed all your life.

Who wanted this?

Who locked me up?

It's never revealed:

Me or them?

How do I look?

I dream of freedom, but I do not go out,

Because shame forbids me.

My face is steel riveted.

My hands are wounded from tearing, and always injured.

I want to break it, but I've never managed.

My permanent smile seems so fitted.

I stay here in my world,

my world:

Prison mask.

Gadzooks!

Prison mask.

So rusty red!

Prison mask.

And it does not change

how much your heart roars for freedom.

Prison mask

Remains on your face and you are enclosed all your life.

Sometimes I wake up terrified

that behind this mask my face has disappeared,

the way an old drawing fades away,

and there is only white skin on my head.

The uncertainty almost drives me insane

which is why I keep scratching my fingers bloody.

Through eye-slits I find myself on every wall,

Surrounded by the shadows of my own grimace.

Prison mask.

Gadzooks!

Prison mask.

So rusty red!

Prison mask.

And the rust flows like tears over the cold iron cheeks.

Prison mask

Remains on your face and you are trapped in it.

Prison mask.

Gadzooks!

Prison mask.

So rusty red!

Prison mask.

And it does not change

how much your heart roars for freedom.

Prison mask

Remains on your face and you are enclosed all your life.

• Artist:ASP
• Album:MASKENHAFT - Ein Versinken in elf Bildern