Time keeps
Pressing on
No matter
How much I scream
For peace
The world keeps
Closing in
No matter
How desperately
I try to hide
The predators keep
After their prey
No matter
How desicated
My bones have become
The end keeps
Creeping closer
No matter
How ignorant
I try to remain

I lay down
The mantle
Of my dreams
No longer worthy
To carry
Their weight
I cast off
The loadstone
Of hope
No strength remains
To carry
Their weight
I shed
Tomorrow
Like yesterday's
Coat
No longer
Comforted
By its
Weight
I stand naked
Before the lord
Ashamed
Of who I am

I've no right
To hear what you're saying
It's not my place
To know what's in your heart
I can't say I understand
I don't know you at all
Anymore

You're a statist regime
With a propaganda machine
Spilling your lies
Pulling apart the seams

I've no right
To a happy ending
It's not my place
To hope or dream
I'm not meant to understand
I don't know you
Anymore

You're a statist regime
With a propaganda machine
Spilling your lies
Pulling apart the seams

I've no right
To demand some justice
It's not my place
To be heard
I'll never understand
I don't want to know you
Anymore

I wonder
Do you know
Exactly how
You make me feel?
Is it like
The springtime blossoms
Full of promise?
Or perhaps
Like the dawn
Of a bright new day?
Is it like
The laughter
Of innocent youth?
Or perhaps
Like a cozy fire
On a cold winters night?
Think my love
How do you
Make me feel?
It is my dear
Like none
Of those things.
Look back
At what you've done
And you
Will see
How it is
I feel...
Like an arm
Pulled into
A chipper
Like an
Acid washed
Bone
I feel drawn
And quartered
I feel
The suffocation
Of drowning
In your spite
I feel
Like a man
Waiting
For the guillotine
But mostly
My dear
I just feel
Numb.

How could I make any of this up
My imagination
Doesn't strain that far
I'm telling you what I saw
I'm telling you
What you ought to know...
There in the distance
There stands my faith
Naked and shivering
There stands my faith
Abandoned by incompetence
Forsaken through malaise
I saw the rising tide
Blot out the sun
I saw the tangled forest
Ooze malevolence
I heard the subsonic groaning
From faith beset by fear
I heard the keening song
Announcing fear triumphant
I felt the ground give way
To the burden of my sin
I felt the heavens sigh
With acknowledged regret
And there in the distance
My faith collapsed upon itself
And in that instance I knew
What I was never to be
I knew fate's tenuous embrace
Would soon chains become
And the tender ministrations
I so longed for
Would come from the claws
I'd tried vainly to escape

I know what you've seen
I know what you heard
I know what you think
And its all wrong
Open up
And let me out
There's nothing more I can do
All this around us
A matrix of lies
And self delusion
Give up what you know
Open up
And let me out
There's something more...
One fear too many
Blinded by a lack of faith
Nobody really sees
The locks without the keys
Open up
I need to be
What you never were

Anger is a sideshow
To what's really goin on...

A two bit barker
Paid to show the way...

Beating an empty chest
It's no use anymore
No one comes around
Nothing to explore

She was a disappointment
When she fled the tent
She'd arranged for him
A little accident

The strongman
Lost his fight
When the pretty girl
Emptied his might

The clowns no longer
Wear their faces
To many scars
Left too many traces

Anger is a sideshow
To what really went on
But its the only show
I know to put on

I know

Wailin'
I can't see
Not much use
For the other me
Step aside
You heroes and dreams
No use waitin'
For ain't never gonna be's
Standard rates apply
To everyone
'cept me
'cause I'm an enemy
Of the people
Ain't never been free
Shut up and listen
Do what you're told
You ain't wise enough
To be your own
Pay up
And cog up
I ain't nuthin'
But a tool
Used up
I wised up
Only to play
The fool

We face the other
Putting aside
The practicality
Of our bodies
We lie to the other
Engaged
In facile
Social constructs
We ignore the other
As we ignore ourselves
Forgetting
The commonality
Of our bodies
We chastise the other
For losing control
While we swim
In prurient dreams
Of our own
We are the other
Held in bondage
By the false centrality
Of our bodies

I've become the vampyre
I so long dreaded
Stealing little bits
Of your soul
Just to feed mine
Death is a daily dream
But I cannot die
I can only be killed
I haunt the edges
Of your life
Feeding on your joy
Slowly sapping
Your strength
Diminishing you
Against my will
I am that subtle thief
Feeding upon your life

Surfing the rivers
Of fire and ice
I caught a glimpse
Of your smile
And the scent
Of your hair
Carried along
On an errant memory
Passing the dreams
Away into the night
The river pushes on
Leaving yesterday
Behind