Devil cracked the earthly shell
Foretold she was the one
Blew hope into the room and said:
"You have to live before you die young"

Holding her down
Channeling darkness
Hemlock for the Gods
Fading resistance
Draining the weakness
Penetrating inner light

Road into the dark unaware
Winding ever higher

Darkness by her side
Spoke and passed her by
Dedicated hunter
Waits to pull us under
Rose up to it's call
In his arms she'd fall
Mother light received
And a faithful servant's free

In time the hissing of her sanity
Faded out her voice and soiled her name
And like marked pages in a diary
Everything seemed clean that is unstained
The incoherent talk of ordinary days
Why would we really need to live?
Decide what is clear and what's within a haze
What you should take and what to give

Ghost of perdition
A saint's premonition's unclear
Keeper of holy hoards
Keeper of holy whores

To see a beloved son
In despair of what's to come

If one cut the source of the flow
And everything would change
Would conviction fall
In the shadow of the righteous
The phantasm of your mind
Might be calling you to go
Defying the forgotten morals
Where the victim is the prey


2. The Baying Of The Hounds

I hear the baying of the hounds
In the distance, I hear them devouring
Pest ridden jackals of the earth
Diabolical beasts and roaming the forests
In wait and constant protectors
Calling you to sit by his side
Your self loathing image in his flesh
A revelation upon which you linger

His words are flies
Swarming towards the true insects
Feasting on buried dreams
And spreading decay upon your skin
His eyes spew forth a darkness
That cut through and paralyze
Casts light upon your secrets
Forced to confront your enemies

His mouth is a vortex
Sucking you into it's pandemonium
Fools you with a helping hand of ashes
Reached out in false dismay
His body is a country
The cities lay dead and beyond despair
Friends turned enemies unable to come clean
In a rising fog of reeking death

Everything you believed is a lie
Everyone you loved is a death burden
So you take comfort in him
And you are receptive to stark wishes
No longer struggling to declare your stand
You would inflict no harm to others
They are unaware of you
And in a loop of futile events
You are everything, they are nothing

Drown in the deep mire
With past desires
Beneath the mire
Drown desire now with you

Lined up verses on dead skin
"The tainted lips of the stranger
Resting upon hers"

And I embrace bereavement
Everything beloved is shattered anyway
I would devote myself to anyone
I would accept any flaws

I am too weak to resist
Tension vibrating with horror
Finding the outcast in my eyes
Pushing nerves on a puppet
Endless poison in my veins
Clean intent now tainted with death

And so, cold touch now inhumane
Every waking hour
Awaiting a reverie to unfold
And now they are calling me
Louder by the minute
The baying of the hounds
Calling me back to my home


3. Beneath The Mire

Haunted nights for haleyon days
Can't sleep to the scraping of his voice
Nature's way struck grief in me
And I became a ghost in sickness

Willingly guided into heresy
Beneath the surface, stark emptiness
And you'd pity my conviction
Whereas I thought of myself as a leader

You'd cling to your pleasant hope
It is twisted fascination
While I'd ruin the obstacles into despair
And I'm praising death

Lost love of the heart
In a holocaust scene memory

Decrepit body wearing transparent skin
Inside, the smoke of failure

Wept for solace and submit to faith
In his shadow I'm choking
Yet flourishing

Master

A delusion made me stronger
Yet I'm draped in pale withering flesh
I sacrificed more than I had
And left my woes beneath the mire


4. Atonement

Cleared the fog that was veiled around me
And blurred my sights
Suddenly, I'm no longer aching
To honor my plights

Rising moon and my skin is peeling
Past undone
Suddenly, I can't justify
What I had become


5. Reverie / Harlequin Forest

Into the trees
Past meadow grounds
And further away from my home
Baying behind me
I hear the hounds
Flock's chasing to find me alone

A trail of sickness
Leading to me
If I am haunted
Then you will see

Searching the darkness
And emptiness
I'm hiding away from the sun
Will never rest
Will never be at ease
All my matter's expired so I run

There falls another
Vapor hands released the blade
Insane regrets at the drop
Instruments of death before me

Lose all to save a little
At your peril it's justified
And dismiss your demons
As death becomes a jest
You are the laughing stock
Of the absinthe minded
Confessions stuck in your mouth
And long gone fevers reappear

Nocturnally helpless
And weak in the light
Depending on a prayer
Pacing deserted roads to find
A seed of hope

They are the trees
Rotten pulp inside and never well
Roots sucking, thieving from my source
Tired boughs reaching for the light

It is all false pretension
Harlequin forest
Awaiting redemption for a lifetime
As they die alone
With no one by their side
Are they forgiven?

Stark determination
Poisoning the soul
Unfettered beast inside
Claiming sovereign control

And now the woods are burning
Tearing life crops asunder
Useless blackened remains
Still pyre smoldering


6. Hours Of Wealth

Found a way to rid myself clean of pain
And the fever that's been haunting me
Has gone away

Looking through my window
I seem to recognize
All the people passing by
But I am alone
And far from home
And nobody knows me

Never heard me say goodbye
Never shall I speak to anyone again
All days are in darkness
And I'm biding my time
Once I am sure of my task I will rise again


7. The Grand Conjuration

Majesty
Faithful me
Pour yourself
Into me

Wield your power
Martyr's price
Stare me down
To the ground

The eyes of the devil
Fixed on his sinners

Slake my thirst
Eternal wealth
Heathen key
Round my neck

This poetry
Our blasphemy
Know the sounds
Of infamy

The hands of Satan
Assembling his flock
Pale horse rider
Searching the earth

Whispered conjuration
A belief takes form
Choking hand tapping
The veins in your throat

His orders in your mouth
A decree for domination
Beneath the tides of wisdom
Spins the undertow of hate

Injected seeds of vengeance
Usurper's eyes of the powerless
Clean path to his kingdom
Beckoning in the mist

(The grand conjuration)

Tell my why
Love subsides
In the light
Of your wishes

Say my name
Ease the pain
Clear the smoke
In my head


8. Isolation Years

There's a sense of longing in me
As I read Rosemary's letter
Her writing's honest
Can't forget the years she's lost

In isolation
She talks about her love
And as I read
"I'll die alone"
I know she was aching

There's a certain detail seen here
The pen must have slipped to the side
And left a stain
Next to his name
She knew he was gone

And isolation
Is all that would remain
"The wound in me is pouring out
To rest on a lover's shore"