1. A DYING MAN'S WISH

As he lay on the verge of death
The house soaking in grief
A last request while blood flows in his veins
A valediction
Time enough before the beckoning grave

Who would deny a dying man's wish?

Too late to wake up to the fullness of this cruelty
Feel his desolation curse this callous fucking vanity
I see no way back, a closing door, so plead no more
And as he slips away, severed cords fall.

Who would deny a dying man's wish?
Who would decline this final wish?
Too late now this loss is eternal
No healing this agony ingrained.

Sorrow seeps,
Freezing cold beneath my skin.
Hope lies broken
Dead within

Your choice
No I won't be here
Wretched and scared
Your choice
No I won't be here
Broken frail
Your choice
No I won't be here
Denied, forsaken, rejected, blamed
Your choice
No I won't be here
Dead and gone
I am ashes
I am ashes
I am ashes

I cannot reach you.

Who would deny a dying man's wish?
An angel to all, innocent soul


2. DAMNATIO MEMORIAE

Cast out
Exiled
Burn each memory
All defiled

Erased us from time
A living death now asigned
Damnatio memoriae

Broken
Confined
Scared and paralysed
So reviled

Erased us from time
A living death now asigned
Damnatio memoriae

Living through death - everything melting away
Crying out crying out - everything falls away

Facing separation eternal
From days of suffering darkness
Nothing left but the end of life
Nothing left but the silence

I see no remorse
Erased from time
No sorrow, no shame
Curse us in our pain.

Reject
Decline
Forget the years
Hateful lines

Erased us from time
A living death now asigned
Damnatio memoriae

Living through death - everything melting away
Crying out crying out - everything falls away

But something has warped inside
A world of selfish excuses
And now compassion has bled and died
So goodbye so goodbye so goodbye.
Damnatio
Memoriae


3. KILLING FLAW

With sorrow you row to a land sick with rot
That which has passed may not be undone
Yet guilt wars with love and coldly compels
To seek salvation through suffering

Your trials, your flaws
Made for you a shroud
You turn from the darkness
But running, it grows
Truth is a sword
To plunge in your heart
Or make battle with gods
Who won't hear your prayers

The hardest battle, fought in your mind
It's not your own end that you fear
The corpse-fog swells, within hides death
Even obscured you still know the path
Darkness speaks and you listen, why?
A voice screams "Turn back!", another cries "On!"
Your own mouth is silent
Save for wails and screams

Through fear you persist
Your blade, your redemption
Your shame, your armour
Your bleak killing flaw
Those gods lie defeated
Blood flows 'cross your skin
It nurtures the earth
Brings flowers of light

This land you now claim
Raw and absolved
In hell how you've suffered
You've strived and you've won
Yet still the weeds grow in
Your garden of remorse
Your pain was for nothing
Your bleak killing flaw


4. GHOSTS OF PARLOUS LIVES

Ghosts of vanquished lives
Haunt your oppressers
You were spared nothing
To supply their greed
Ghosts of enslaved lives
They had their heaven
You who had nothing
Show them suffering

Helpless, you watched your children die
One by one
Each one damned from birth
You loved them all, your pride, your joy
No one knew their worth
Their children thrive and revel in riches
Gods who watched you fall
They have more than they will ever need
They will ask for more

Ghosts of parlous lives
Paupers and pilgrims
Broken and blinded
You have lost your way
Ghosts of erased lives
You have no headstone
To mark your passing
From a cursed life

Imprisoned for trying to survive
Taking enough to stay alive
From their stores of plenty
Caught in your misdeeds
Paid in blood for your crimes
Broken down before your time
Nothing of you remains behind.

You who worked so hard for pittance
You who had nothing to call your own
Helpless you watched your beloved suffer
You who begged before their thrones

Haunt them all in their filthy splendour
And bring them broken to their knees
Haunt them all in their filthy splendour
And bring them broken to their knees
Haunt them all in their filthy splendour
Observe them crawling at your feet.


5. MOURNING THE LOSS OF THE LIVING

Consistently drip-fed insidious malice
What is a child to believe?
They are the victims too
I mourn the dead and I grieve for them
Sorrow returns again and again.
Grief for the dead and the living who
Hate as these victims do.


6. THERE WAS DEATH

In my death
All will die
We will be
Freed from time
Fraying ends
Of our lives
Fly as one
All in line

In an instant
Everything melts away
Universal and swift our decline
Ending all time

There was death
There was grief
Were you here
Did I leave?
Voices spoke
There was light
Without thought
Without sight

Braced myself and I watched you cry
Felt the outside rushing by
Where was the ending, when did we die?
Watching, waiting as we fly.

--End of--

--Nothing--

Beginnings, endings all in line
Something exists outside of our feeble minds
And so we were mistaken
Imprisoned in our time
Tied up in the boundaries
Of our symbols and signs

Of science of religion
Chained to these confines.


7. WALLS WITHIN WALLS

The fight is really over this time
They had to win the war
And showed us the depths of their cold indifference
Walls within walls
Impenetrable distances
Relinquishing the hopes of many years
So much foolish hope
So much regret
So much pain

Everything in black and white in their eyes
Everything in black and white is disguised

The colours and greys moving in and out of shadows in my world within
Walls within
And one day I understood
Some things can't be saved
Nothing will remain
Where nothing has been changed

Open your eyes

Even decay, even the broken things
Everything looks good in their black and white
You can't see the blood or the filth or polluted skies
You can't see the world like that this time
Outside the walls it's another crime
inside the heart it's another crime
There on the screen it's another crime
They've tainted our world
They've broken mine.

Everything in black and white is disguised
Nothing left in black and white in my eyes


8. NO END TO SORROW

Hands are held
Within your hands
Every breath a gift
Laughter rings within your walls
A room they fill may silent fall

My sorrow is yours

Photographs adorn the walls
Where autumn sun
Long shadows cast
Memories of treasured times
Burning hearts lock tears inside

Hands were held
Within these hands
Every breath a gift
Laughter rang within these walls
A room they filled now silent falls


9. AN END TO SUFFERING

Flightless bird
How will you flee
This winter's grip
This frigid sea?

Lay down to sleep
Your Mother's nest
And be at peace
In eternal rest

Return to dust
Return to dust
Return to dust