1. |
Chapter I - The End
04:57
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Light whispers across barren sands
To red horizon.
In shade, deep valleys where I’ve been,
So far have I come.
And rising before me,
The footsteps stark, the beating hearts
Of those who came before.
The final rampart of this dream
Is taken back again
To the end.
Each step much the same as thousands passed,
Cold stone lasts forever.
Yet one step must surely be the last,
For even stone must weather.
And rising before me,
A chisel true might make anew
What stone was left unhewn.
With each strike the marble screams it’s pain.
Each mistake, the sculptor's only
Taken back again
To the end.
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2. |
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Sun sets but shines below,
The sculptor’s left the stage.
What hammer is left him?
Come reap what you’ve never sown,
Only the end delayed.
The scythe flays your sanity.
Re-play to scale the rampart.
Rewind to fall again.
Look off to chase the vision.
Climb out to creep back in.
Give in or hold forever.
Push on or lie asleep.
Iron will or pushed flat over.
Ride the wind or fight the gale.
The marble falls, no time to win.
You see it all, distorted by the mirror of sin.
The storm rolls down again,
The gods break your mind and make your end.
Every day you strive and struggle,
But who really pulls the strings?
Random impact, fluctuation,
The gods of everything?
Do numbers rule?
Can you defy the maker’s law?
All you’re ever meant to be,
A slave without a bond.
(A different twin, complex, unpredictable, from within, unchain.
Your chance to win, to lose, all decided, the course is set, machine.)
Intentions fall, no time to win.
The mirror draws you on to your oblivion.
While in the haze,
The storm begins.
The storm beats down your barren life,
And it takes its toll on you.
The night reclaims the wasteland,
And the mirror has its due.
A leer, deranged,
And the hammer crashes down
To drive the rot beneath your skin,
A laugh the only sound.
Convictions fall, no time to win, my friend,
Just fall back again.
You've seen it all, distorted by the madness within.
The waters take you in,
And carry you back to your end,
Far away and broken,
The bloodstains soaking in,
To wash the rain away.
It’s never seen again,
But always there beside you.
Can it ever mend?
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3. |
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Son, don’t stare across that empty room.
Words lost, tales forgotten,
Unhinge, unsay, undo.
Gone, make up a little story for you,
But wisdom bought with pain
Is never fooled.
I am not afraid,
Flying under the radar, under the skin.
The shadow of each lost day,
Lock it down and beat into its grave.
And I won’t be delayed,
Hope can’t die, ‘cause it’s dead in me,
It’s all burned to ashes,
And the ashes are washed away.
Red, the paint runs down the hand.
Perceptions slurred and stumbled,
Forced to live again.
Night, toss and turn, repent.
The chisel’s gone too far,
But the hammer strikes again.
Familiar walls stare down,
They’re cast in stone.
Again you climb, again you fall.
In desert you still drown
And die alone.
Wait for that day the stone you roll,
It crushes you down.
I am not afraid,
Flying under the radar, under the skin.
The shadow of each lost day,
Lock it down and beat into its grave.
And I won’t be delayed,
Hope can’t die, ‘cause it’s dead in me,
It’s all burned to ashes,
And the ashes are washed away.
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4. |
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Stare the mountain down, the waters bring the mighty to bay.
First they beat you down and leave you there with nothing to say.
Come say your piece which God ignores.
The king of Ephyra with Thanatos chained,
But still the boulder’s rolling away.
Dark roads astray, sands shift and sway, in minds replayed.
Madness unchained, visions awake, years to repay.
Look around, see far and wide thorough dark, through stone and time.
Bring to life all the truths you deny, visions in desert night come alive.
This time is yours don’t throw it away.
Old pictures burn, but he’ll never wait and wonder.
Your time to give, your time to take.
By malice lured but no mistake.
Chased in depths of endless seas,
Fit to join that luckless feast.
Slip below, rise again,
Never turn back, never give in.
Don’t give up until you win,
Climb up into the cleansing wind.
The only truth is what you defend.
Long dusty miles to ride.
Dark scary dreams to hide.
Their fate too long we've denied.
Run fast, but always followed.
What time is yours will slip away.
The desert burns but pain is the way salvation is paid.
Your choice to give, your choice to take.
By freedom lured but no mistake.
Escape, a life on the run.
A thousand desolate sons.
Give chase to what they have won.
Stand fast, there’s no tomorrow.
What time is yours will slip away.
The desert burns but pain is the way salvation is paid.
Your choice to give, your choice to take.
By freedom lured but no mistake.
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5. |
Chapter V - Crimson Dawn
03:23
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No searching footsteps, no whispered promises,
Of gold and glory,
Will take him in, too late for his defense.
No creeping terror, no creature in the black,
No stark decay of time,
Will stay his hand from clawing ever back.
'Cause in that eastern glow, so many times believed,
Once more to bring him back, once more to onward lead.
In pictures drawn in sand,
In dreams of lucid night,
In pale reflection's face,
He sees the memories
that hold him to the light.
In tales of open seas,
In the glory of the brave,
In journeys long foretold,
He'll find the hope
To see beyond his fight.
'Cause in that eastern glow, so many times believed,
Once more to bring him back, once more to onward lead,
That what in visions lie may never come to be,
That what has come before may one day lie only in that history.
With red horizons and the lifting of the chill,
A new day comes at last to carry out its will.
And out of deepest depths and into shining blue,
His vitric walls give way, his dreams fulfilled.
The glass fused from sand is now to sand returned,
That pale reflected face with wisdom dearly earned,
Is set free at last to roam the Delphic sky,
Spreads his wings, unfurl sands of time.
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6. |
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New light whispers
Across these barren sands.
In shade, deep valleys
Where I now stand.
And rising before me,
Footsteps of days gone by,
That distant rampart
With its distant lie.
A tape fused from end to end,
Set to spin again,
The actors on their stage
Move from then to then,
Never to ascend.
A map of every age.
Does future move to past?
Can we pull the arrow back?
Is its flight an illusion of memory,
That drags you forward while only looking back?
And if it's all set in stone,
And you're destined to fight alone,
You'll never turn your back,
Your every fall atoned.
Rocky heights cast in their familiar stone
Stretch red horizons.
A beaten path walked a thousand times before
Leads the way to oasis far beyond.
The stage set, the sculpture chiseled to the bone,
Pure or misshapen.
Left to scrape at illusions of control,
To climb above.
'Till you fall back down,
Where you've seen it all again,
But to fate and despair
You're never giving in,
Left alone, no chance to win,
But with a single step,
The climb begins.
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7. |
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