Poetry Blog 4

"Take Me to Church" - Hozier

My lover's got humour 

She's the giggle at a funeral 

Knows everybody's disapproval 

I should've worshiped her sooner 

If the Heavens ever did speak 

She is the last true mouthpiece 

Every Sunday's getting more bleak 

A fresh poison each week 

'We were born sick,' you heard them say it 

My church offers no absolutes 

She tells me 'worship in the bedroom' 

The only heaven I'll be sent to 

Is when I'm alone with you 

I was born sick, but I love it 

Command me to be well 

Amen. Amen. Amen 

Take me to church 

I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies 

I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife 

Offer me that deathless death 

Good God, let me give you my life 

If I'm a pagan of the good times 

My lover's the sunlight 

To keep the Goddess on my side 

She demands a sacrifice 

To drain the whole sea 

Get something shiny 

Something meaty for the main course 

That's a fine looking high horse 

What you got in the stable? 

We've a lot of starving faithful 

That looks tasty 

That looks plenty 

This is hungry work 

No masters or kings when the ritual begins 

There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin 

In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene 

Only then I am human 

Only then I am clean 

Amen. Amen. Amen 

Firstly, I'd love for whoever is reading to listen to the song/watch the video. Hozier's voice is wonderfully haunting and conveys the emotional need that the song speaks of. The video tackles LGBT issues in Russia and depicts a couple being broken up because of their sexuality and the difficulties that they have to face. 

Hozier first demonstrates how his lover is different and unique from others and then equates her to being a religious figure, calling her "Heaven's last true mouthpiece" and his "church". Although he recognizes that she feeds him "fresh poison", he says it is a cure for his sickness and sin, as religious services often herald their ability to do so. He looks at private time with her as both heavenly and a healing experience, wanting her to "command [him] to be well, amen."

The chorus drives home his undying devotion towards her, much like devout members of religious groups. He willingly accepts anything she tells him and gives her everything he is able to, even his deepest secrets and sins, that may eventually be used against him as a "sharpen[ed] knife." He goes so far as to plead for her to take his everything. 

He then moves towards older worship, paganism, to explain his devotion towards her, demonstrating that she is as essential to him as "sunlight" and referencing extensive sacrifices that were made to keep the gods and goddesses happy to the sacrifices he makes to "keep the Goddess [his lover] on [his] side." His proclamation of "That looks tasty/that looks plenty/ this is hungry work" shows how he will never tire of his lover's company. 

Hozier's last stanza speaks more to the persecution of homosexuals that is found in the video. "Masters and kings" may be interpreted as governmental figures and the "sweet innocence of their gentle sin" as how religious texts, and governments, deem homosexuality as sinful, so none can be present when they are together. Yet, he recognizes that it is "in the madness and oil of that sad earthly scene", in our present world, that they love each other and can love each other, so "only then [they are] human" and they can only seek the cleaning of their sins surrounded by a mad world.