Lend me the eyes of millennia
Align the rapid glimpse of lives in frames
Like fading photographs in ashes,
In desperate seconds, closed in by the flames
Let me walk into their cities
When dust and sand has covered every trace
Of love, of pain and liberty
A veil of ash and night across its face
I would cast a shadow over beacons
To see disoriented swarms disperse
Like rays of hope into the night
The rise of civilizations in reverse

And as ghosts among the living
Like echoes of a fading song
We could run across the battlefields
On blood-stained roads to freedom

Lend me the eyes of millennia
Align the rapid glimpse of lives in frames
Like fading photographs in ashes,
In desperate seconds, closed in by the flames
Let me walk into their cities
When dust and sand has covered every trace
Of love, of pain and liberty

There was always a presence
In the tantalizing shadows of your dreams
An enigmatic whisper
Resonating through your very being
And now you have come too far
The paths you followed here are gone
This is the black, this is the night
This is your dawn
It was always a part of you
Like a seed, a destiny in your blood
From which there is no escape
The unconditional absence of god
There is no return

It's too late
The eyes of the abyss already deep inside
You stayed too long
And now you leave but nothing changes

It is far too late
The dreams will bleed into your waking hours
And now you belong
To something that is yours and yours alone
You have come too far
The paths you followed here are gone
This is the black, this is the night
This is your dawn

Gently lay my head against the wall and listen
For the footsteps, outside, to fade out and disappear
Hold my breath, a pause, suspended dust in silence
Exhale, relief, that's one less enemy
Or a saviour lost

I threw my eyes
So far into the void
A wager for the blind
I threw my eyes
So far into the void
Hours after hours

Waiting for the emptiness
To cultivate the night
The emptiness
Will soon deliver
Emptiness
A serenade to revelation
Emptiness
Will soon deliver me

Softly run my hands across the ground beneath me
Any trace of fabricated pride is washed away
Turn my faceless head against the raining skies
The dignity and power of this solitude
I am here to stay

I threw my eyes
So far into the void
Now all I see if you

I threw my eyes
So far into the void
And now I know

Emptiness
Will cultivate the night
The emptiness
Will soon deliver
Emptiness
A serenade to revelation
Emptiness
Will soon deliver me

Half-awake, deprived of sleep and dignity
I stand before the blinding lights
My body trembling, survival instincts gasp for air
Rays of madness tear the nights in me

Torn from the slumber, like a drunken king,
To watch the cities burn
The world I used to see, no longer a part of me
In bleak reflections, stripped of my humanity

Yet I have all to gain
- The slate is clean
And all the "why's" I need
- The stakes are high
The wheels of fate have turned
- The chariot awaits
And I will set the course
- On paths of tribulation

A refugee of reason
In a world of disbelief
Outnumbered by the thousands
Empowered by the ones I seek

A tranquil silence echoes
Through the blackness
Stumbling away
Each step a fall
Into another void
The ever endless
Fluctuating centre
Of it all
I've seen you here before
I couldn't reach you
We spoke the truth
With bleeding, cut out tongues
And turned our backs
To all the roads we ever knew
In this maze where you are lost
And I belong

A gallery of aeons
Lie in pieces
Spread like ashes
Over Babylon
Where the quest
Of orphan martyrs ceases,
When they find the gods
They loved are gone

I've seen you here before
I couldn't reach you
We spoke the truth
With bleeding, cut out tongues
And turned our backs
To all we ever knew
In this maze where you are lost
And I belong

The room fell still, submerged by time
The chatter drowned in liquid hours
If ever words were obsolete
The vibrant air would speak
There is conduct
Like honour among thieves

There is grace
Within the fearful eyes of those who seek
And we know
We know so well the endgame of our presence
Instinctively we throw ourselves
Into these rites of passage

The paths to where we might belong
Are riddles in a long-forgotten tongue
And these sentiments we share...
Unspoken violence suspended in the air

This is how our eyes could never meet
Strangers by a monument of hope
In silent hours, you have known my name
But none of us could ever be the same

I could cut you open with a word
Let your blood run down into the soil
If only for a moment to be free
Complete with me

In rites of passage

Shadows seep through the pores
Of a rain worn, marble statue
And drain the fading colours
From the depths of my eyes

To see, and feel this frozen river
That is tears and blood and fate
Washing over me, like a cleansing fire
Washing over me, like it was mine

And in this raging storm,
Where reveries take form,
To see the outlines of a destiny unfold
The sleeping giants rise
Like bodies trapped in ice
Their gaze transfixed on the horizon
Like a cleansing fire
Washing over me
Like it was mine
Beneath the words
Below the lies
Deep within the blackened halls
Of weaknesses and cries
To glimpse the contours
Of a long-forgotten jewel
Place the chisel, lift the hammer high

Spread out clean sheets
Get the mind ready for the deep sleep
Fade out the cold lights
Still, these linens feel like concrete

Drifting though closed eyes
Watching incapacities materialize
Like in the song, a prisoner
Of my own device

Another part of me
Could have been the unleashed
What would it be, how would it feel,
If the ideals of self were real?
Is it a cure, or is it disease?
Would i know emptiness from peace?
Tracing the fears back to the start
Raptures to tear the world apart
Written in scars that never heal
This is the deal

Wake up like an undead
Ashes of the night swirling though my head
Breathless, heartless
Ravenous

Another part of me
Could have been the unleashed
Forever circling back
To the crossroads of my dreams
Where twin black angels lead the way

Inside a dreamer's palace,
So desolate and vast,
Amidst the solemn pinnacles
And shadows of a past,
You lie awake to find
The somber evening hours fade
Away, like childhood memories,
Your mind withdrawn to shade
The night on the horizon
Has whispered in your ear
You came for consolation
But you won't find it here

Hope and disillusion
Have sunk in mires of doubt
Along with scraps of triumph
You could have left without

A fool for loss and tragedy,
The muses' senseless kiss,
For which you blindly sought out all the pearls of the abyss

A senseless quest for dignity
Has blurred your weary eyes
The sum of your ideals
Comprise a formless lump of pride and vice

And yet a subtle smile,
Like thieves, upon your face
With scars and worn delusions,
You still enter night with grace

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were - I have not seen
As others saw - I could not bring
My passions from a common spring

From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow - I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone
And all I lov'd - I lov'd alone

Then - in my childhood - in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still

From the torrent, or the fountain
From the red cliff of the mountain
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold

From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by
From the thunder, and the storm
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view