Lucretia my reflection is the third single from the Sisters of Mercy's second album, Floodland. It was released in June 1988 and reached number 20 on the UK singles chart.
Taking the big picture as its starting point, the song focuses on the power of government and corporations to control people's lives. It also focuses on the negative effects of war and the fall of an empire.
The chorus of the song focuses on taking action and finding freedom for oneself, referencing Lucretia, a noble Roman woman who famously chose her own destiny and escaped from an oppressive society. The song encourages listeners to make a difference in their own lives and to find what they are truly capable of.
This song contains many other awe-inspiring lyrics, highlighting the lyrical talents of Eldritch and the band. The first of these is the "Blitzkrieg Bop" line, which was a reference to debasing high culture by means of random noise (and may be an allusion to the Chuck Berry song Memphis Tennessee).
Another example of the band's penchant for evocative imagery, the lyric “Driven like the snow” is an obvious pun on the phrase “driven like ice”. The word methedrome is a homage to the name of the drug used to induce hallucinogenic vision effects.
It is also interesting to note that the lyric “Like a healing hand” refers to an image that is regenerative, not only in the sense of being visually pleasing, but also in the sense of bringing about change. It is the most impressive lyric on the whole album.