Amniotes (from Greek ἀμνίον amnion, "membrane surrounding the fetus", earlier "bowl in which the blood of sacrificed animals was caught", from ἀμνός amnos, "lamb") are a clade of tetrapod vertebrates comprising the reptiles, birds and mammals that lay their eggs on land or retain the fertilized egg within the mother. They are distinguished from the anamniotes (fishes and amphibians), which typically lay their eggs in water. Older sources, particularly prior to the 20th century, may refer to amniotes as "higher vertebrates" and anamniotes as "lower vertebrates", based on the discredited idea of the Great Chain of Being.
Amniotes are tetrapods (descendants of four-limbed and backboned animals) that are characterised by having an egg equipped with an amnios, an adaptation to lay eggs on land rather than in water as the anamniotes (including frogs) typically do. Amniotes include synapsids (mammals along with their extinct kin) and sauropsids (reptiles and birds), as well as their ancestors. Amniote embryos, whether laid as eggs or carried by the female, are protected and aided by several extensive membranes. In eutherian mammals (such as humans), these membranes include the amniotic sac that surrounds the fetus. These embryonic membranes and the lack of a larval stage distinguish amniotes from tetrapod amphibians.
We drown in the bile
Of a frustrated birth
A knife grows in every back
Jaws clenched and tongue bitten
These are all wasted words
These are all a wastrels words
Meanings you will never find
Hidden, lurking between the lines
We are revolving to
Our drain
We are revolving to
Our drain
I've lifted my chin
And ignored the noose
But there is gravity
In the centre of the void
The seed of its end
In every creation
Of a sullen cremation
Heels in the tug of tide
We shudder on shore
Lands end
And what have we got?
Nothing but memory
Success or failure?
Gathering our rags
We walk into the waves
We are revolving to
Our drain
We are revolving to
Our drain
The brightest light
Will gutter, quicker
The wax will stifle the wick
As we burn
For the yearning ember
There is nobility in flame
For the faltering fire
There is only shame
We feel the whine
Sharply, in our teeth
And all our pasts
Chained to our ankles
This is not another
Slit wrist suicide
Its our future drowning
In the bile of cyanide
We are revolving to
Our drain
We are revolving to
Our drain
We drown in the bile
Of a frustrated birth
A knife grows in every back
Jaws clenched and tongue bitten
Drowning in the currents
Of another fleeting void
At the mercy of sleep
The brightest light
Will gutter, quicker
The wax will stifle the wick
As we burn
For the yearning ember
There is nobility in flame
For the faltering fire
There is only shame
Only shame
For the faltering fire
There is only shame