Instruments
Ensembles
Opera
Composers
Performers

Lyrics: Tourniquet. Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. Phantom Limb.


[Words and Music by Ted Kirkpatrick]

The case of George Dedlow
Double amputee, one of 500,000
Civil War casualties
Suffered a phenomenon so bizarre
Even the doctors looked on from afar

How can you feel a leg that isn't even there?
From cold to burning heat
To pain beyond compare
Clinically known as phantomb limb
So hard to treat, prognosis dim

Brachial plexus avulsion
They told you cycles were dangerous
Nerves ripped from the spinal cord
You certainly need the Lord

But just like the feeling in your arm that is gone
You've severed communication with Him all along
Even though you know it's totally wrong
Spiritual death kicks off its swan song

Don't throw away the years He gives you
By hardening your heart within you
And if you cut off both your own legs
And you have sworn just to ignore Him
The phantom limb will start to haunt you
He wants to bring you back, revive you