I saw a great whore, who sits o'er many nations,
With a golden cup full of abominations,
Clothed in purple and scarlet, with precious stones fit,
On her forehead "Myst'ry, Babylon the Great" writ.
Drunk with the blood of saints, a scarlet beast she rode
With blasphemous names - seven heads, ten horns it showed.
"The beast shall ascend from the bottomless pit",
I heard as I marvelled. "Men shall wonder at it."
Its seven heads are seven mountains, kings also,
The beast's the eighth - five gone, one present, one to go.
The ten horns are kings who'll fight the Lamb, but then lose,
They'll hate the whore, that city which o'er the earth rules.
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