The Priest lyrics

I'm Peter van der Hold.

I'm sixty-eight years old.

My doubts and questions have increased

in forty-two years of being a priest.

I'm at the end of my life.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna survive.

I often don't know what to say

when I talk to Him, when I pray.

In reply I receive

only silence, no relief.

I've waited in vain for a little advice

from that great voice in the ethereal skies.

Once I was revolutionary,

a devoted mercenary,

a gifted student in God's hands.

Now I'm old and sick of his demands.

I tried to be honest and good.

Did my job the best I could

but I always stayed that average man

right in the spot where I began.

During the grieve with which I've dealt,

it's been three decades since I've felt

the certainty I'd so adored

'bout the existence of the Lord.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

I'll give in to my parish,

things I don't have myself but cherish.

And namely love and charity,

mostly purpose, that's what sets you free.

So I'm aware the metaphors

are not comforting anymore.

I think I'm almost done with my search.

Got old so fast even in my church.

It feels as if I'm kept out

of some sort of secret about

the meaning of life sometimes.

Can't fail to notice these are mediocre times.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

And time has made me good at one thing,

and horrible at everything else.

The blessings of a world divine

were always elsewhere, were never mine.

Oh, I would like to hold someone,

briefly, maybe have some fun.

My body's hardly designed,

so I'm not really the hugging kind.

Not once has there been

someone with a softer skin

who reached out for me in the middle of the night

'cause my own lumpy mattress would've turned on the light.

I think I've been miscast

and the time of saints is passed.

My faith is weak-class but not least

after forty-two years of being a priest.

The church is like a woman.

A thing out of reach like a vision.

She glimmers in the distance which I could never quite get.

Now I am left here with my regret.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

I've seen enough that's why I know

God left this place long, long time ago.

It's my portion, it's my call.

It's my portion, it's my call.

It's my portion, it's my call.

It's my portion, it's my call.