The Gate

Amber

falling amber
foundations exposed to the sun
some remember
some can't believe what we've done
the lonely mountain stands at the break of the wilderness her sunken eyes weep in charity, childless
the guilty hide in disinterest the vain and the proud cry innocence
torn by the flame, gelded by shame sweep them away, sweep them away

burning skies with no relief in sight when the rains came she resisted with all her might
and the rivers run cold and black as the night I'm sick of shadows, sick of shadows

she stands a pale momnument of a single shining careless moment mountain, desert, all will become one
growing scars on the winds of change bleeding lines on the lips of the flame
she glows in the world tonight
it will never be the same

faithless

Starsong

in your room within I've drawn the shades upon the skies
and I can feel the silent edge of winter in your empty eyes
and as I slowly fall and sail within your deepest dark seas
now I lay me down to sleep and draw your sails beneath me

and over the sun below the sand
a storm of words a show of hands
and no one tries to understand

in this isolation for you, will you take me down the sides of you
and all you are, and all you try to make me feel inside for you
I'm under all of Hera's spells, I fall beneath you as waters swell
and I could drown, and I could dive inside a light that shines from you

and over the sun below the sand
a broken word, an open hand
held out to you to understand

her sails taking flight cold horizon endless bright
inbetween the moments frozen haloes trapped beneath the night
and the towers crashing down broken traces hallowed ground
in the breaking time slowly moving swallowing the light

and over the sun below the sand
a spoken word, this broken land
held out to you to understand
(I'm always falling from your hands)

and over the sun below the sand
this broken world, this open hand
held out to you to understand
I'm all for you to understand

The Prisoner

Over the world, wandered lost in time fleeting through these bleeding hands
crawling back to you
the settled dust of yesterday is drifting through the ancient cities
in your skin and eyes and lips and fingers
drawing lines through you

there's one last fire to burn
we fail to learn, again
we are gone to ground
these are moments when we fail to see
and we burn it
left in ruins in your undertow
this so well you know
I'm your prisoner in chains
the words they light the skies
and burn the eyes
become ashes in the rain

under the gun living every day in fear of truth and light
raising apathy into timeless feats of rage
through the winter, sleeping every night in the fever's final stage
your shape remains forever burned within me, stained within me

there's one last fire to burn
we fail to learn, again
we are gone to ground
these are moments when we fail to see
and we burn it left in
ruins in your undertow
this so well you know
I'm a slave to this disease
to live with what you have denied for me
left behind for me

broken above splintered shapeless remind endless below the end is not so far behind
your eyes a dream where we are split into fragments
you are always somewhere above me
and you breathe out the fumes of all that we raised
and you sink in the tides that washed it away
all that you were lives on in the stains in my skin
the mark of Cain remains to remind in the end

Aftermath

Asleep in the mirror wonder breathes through the halls
the silken thread moves tirelessly through the timeless porcelain debris
torn by starlight misdirected veiled addiction flesh affliction
blessed slivers drowning rivers pouring from your open eyes

turning pages of history, falling from reign in the Age of Stars
these lips remain a mystery pressed between your veil of scars

burning fields in the sowing season at the edge of the endless inside
crushed in the waves of your pale ocean twisted and turned by the raging tides
glowing lights in the water flowing sand drifting in
tasteless pieces of all we are the stolen sacraments of sin

flowing fumes in the headlands blown in tune with the sun in your skin
burning through and through these hands
until who knows where you end and I begin

and we're following the sun for the first time
bleating in our abstinence bleeding our penitence for you
we fail

and I feel you move on my knees and I watch you taste the disease
over and over again
we arrive at the gates in time to watch the world grow cold and sick of you

and you stare down the room, and you tear down the moon, where you land it's killing time

this world bleeds from the mouth of the sea
and avarice rips through the virginal deep
and you breathe in addiction soulless affliction
in the wake of your screaming pleas
another one for your collection, bought and sold
I am the same to everyone, another whore of Babylon
breathe on the needle taste on the anvil breathe in the cancer die on the steeple
blood on the wires, holes in your hands gaping mouth in the window under the sands

tear down the Lamps
burning the world
laugh smile in depth
between the legs of the girl

Bloodwires

morning scrapes her tired eyes at the gates of the lion's den
where the rising dawn burns away the wilted night again
unholy lies are breathing the flowing dunes of time
and the shepard smiles in crimson hues with fingers intertwined

this stale jihad walks silently to an endless closing door
the suffered writhe in porcelain reminders on the floor
the bleeding seas of swollen tears dry silent in the air
the futile cries for mercy meet with Nero's vacant stare

fill your dreams with hate
still your heart with greed
for the tree of night
you will plant the seed
you reap what you sow
from the ones you bleed
all the things you want
are what we don't need

was it all you dreamed it would be?
would you even know what it means to be free?
blind the eyes of the clown, take the fire from their hands
faceless frozen in dust buried under the sand

fill your dreams with hate
still your heart with greed
for the tree of night
you will plant the seed
you reap what you sow
from the ones you bleed
all the things you want
are what we don't need

you are the reason we don't believe blood on the wires with no reprieve
you become Leviathan, you become the Void
and you become more glorious with every world you destroy
you are so glorious.....

Painted On The Sky

the journey begins in an empty house a thousand miles from home
where the sinking sun burns souls to ashes and the spinning devils roam
a hollow smile bleeds from the shadows and whispers "hope is here"
the nameless drift in the watery haze soon to disappear

the lost ones slowly stir and we begin the dance
the priviledged drive them one by one to the edge of the border fence
sorrow's sickness lingers on in a suffocating bed
and the wolves begin their feeding frenzy on the flanks of the softly dead

sleep tonight free again safe and warm in the homes you raise from the bones of lesser men
and the wolves will feed on another man's need
the road behind and the reasons why remain forever painted on the sky

sundogs dance in the settled dust at the end of the longest day
fires bruise the velvet night where the ember's children play
the sinking eye of hope looks on from the edge of a barbed wire cage
an oasis slowly torn assunder by the gleaming teeth of rage

sleep tonight free again safe and warm in the homes you raise from the bones of lesser men
and the wolves will feed on another man's need
the road behind and the reasons why remain forever painted on the sky

the last of your foolish slaves burdened with rusted chains
sleeps alone in this dying city embraced by freedom's stains
and I walk amoung these grand machines broken beyond repair
forty years in the endless sands and I feel you everywhere

sleep tonight the lie revealed out of sight and out of mind of the lives that you steal
and the wolves will feed on the dreams that die
and forever remain painted on the sky

Crystal

seconds pass cool healing Jesus flows from molten crystals
liquid ocean breeze sink into the sky
losing touch but feeling everything so clearly dulling throbbing
sleep against the waves crushed against your shore
chained forevermore

slowly caressing broken hands on time's gentle face
wounded pale queen ancient scars are swelling
lines are moving shifting drifting heaven burns in flames
just in time to reach the carpet flowing through my veins
to slowly drown in stains

just me and my love beside the sea
the slow quickening of a million yesterdays

breathing through tomorrow and it's moving so fast
almost reaching the gravity wells behind you and the sun and the moon and the stars
and I'm here again stale and cold and lonely
by the crystal sea
swinging from the last word left for me

The Sun Dance (Sleeping In Light)

Part I: The Sun Dance

these holes unmade revealing to the sea
these shores are laid in all we used to be
unveiled snowfall suspended in your eyes
nailed on your wall where you look down on me

this torn collection come to light
avenging angels in their timeless flight
where you remain the sun will never set
unhindered skin disease so soon to forget

falling from the bridges that we burned
coming back to light to leave no sleight unturned
twisted and unmade breathing in your shade
grounded in embers fading away

Part II: Sleeping In Light

overhead we sleep in light
two by two at the face of the waves tonight
in a whisper all that we were inspires
hand in hand alone at the end of the fire

the sails are drawn
the mark of Cain calls to me
stone and hammer breathe

the slivers of time
the broken river of tears
for the lies we weave

in the undertow of passion's final defeat
falling stars bruise the face they will meet
unforgiving dunes are drowning the land
for the last time, calm in the face of the man

the sails are drawn
the mark of Cain calls to me
stone and hammer breathe

the slivers of time
the broken river of tears
for the lies we weave

through her gleaming teeth
the time for laughter is gone
all our dreams deceived

we render in tears
and slowly fall in defeat
from the face of Eve

I burn you from memory
raze you in ashes
tortured and loveless sightless abandon
strung from the wires drawn untogether
rendered in madness, cursed to the sun dance
fed to the masses, bled into blackness
heralding angels sing down your sadness
all your believers
become all your victims
over and over and over again

Murrain (2003 version)

In the dark of night the harvest shadows loom
the memory waits in the corner watching my every move
a knock at the door, a break in the waiting
an end to the silence, an end to the hopes that remain

I turn to the light and open the door but cannot break the static sound
all my actions amount to nothing
whether giving up, or giving in, or never coming down
a hole in the sky where tomorrow bleeds through
drowning in dreams on the essence of you
mouth to the truth your eyes to the rain
what used to be pure become so murrain

and the spirit of hope lies hopelessly still
the hurting will heal but this heart never will
the dreams that I share are the first thing you take
sometimes I believe I was God's worst mistake

stripped to the wires and helplessly bare
I don't have anything you'd want to steal
sleeping in light the storms submerging
all that's left to reveal
with fading glass smiles you shattered this trust
old promises run through my fingers in dust
a feeling so clear is torn from the rails
what used to be hope
just one more reason to fail

and the spirit of hope lies hopelessly still
the hurting will heal but this heart never will
the dreams that I share are the first thing you take
sometimes I believe I was God's worst mistake

Sandstorm

and all her storms blew beneath me
so silent they wandered the sand
and every dream falls from tomorrow
and each one will have theirs in turn
and all the world burns before me
inhaling the stench of this land
and open and willingly we will follow
the wailing repose of the worm

I feel below the sandstorm
I feel below the world
I feel nothing but isolation
I feel below the world

your words became my religion
your promises became the word of the lord
and all you ever wanted from me for giving
was everything I adored
you give this love like water
then leave me to die of thirst in the sands
and everything I ever was for you
was everything that fell from your hands

I feel below the sandstorm
I feel below the world
I feel what is will always be what was
and I feel below the world

bring on the sandstorms
bring the wind of change unfurled
bring on the sandstorms
bring on the end of the world

bring on the end of the world
bring on the end of the world
bring on the end of the world
bring on the end of the world