1. THE RUIN OF TRANQUILITY

Facing adversity
Humbly accepting my fate
Under great scrutiny
Resolved, my life must stay

No one knows my tranquility
Peace like winter's first snow
But before this serenity
There came a curse, a tragedy

And from that curse
Sprang forth my plight
To live in tortured state
A simple mistake lead to disease
A melting point for flesh

So here I lay, decomposing
The binding of my hate
In rotting tranquility
A simple word set forth my fate

Tortured state of serenity
Life amidst the flames of tragedy

Take my peace, tranquility
And fuel your inner hate
A burning coal with righteous fire
That justice cannot define
Take my hate, vitality
The aesthetic source of flame
A sacred scorching of the past
That no one can deny

What possessed you
Overcame you
Bleeding out, my soul
Forced to sit and watch it drain
An everlasting coal

That stokes the fires with its hate
And calls out all my pain
A wicked curse that never ends
Fighting all in vain


2. THESE DARK ROADS

Blind and stumbling
Mad and wandering
You fell into my path
Laid your thread on mine
The parting of your lips
The parting of our ways
Only memories remain
Nothing heals with time

The snakes of my past
Dripping venomous fangs
Mistakes and missteps
Never to be undone

Severed, a soul torn free
From a future not to be
Forsaken alone
I will walk these dark roads

Serpents of the heart
Entranced and intertwined
Constricting in their writhing’s
Choking out the light
The weaving of our ways
Leading us apart
Seasons standing still
A winter cold and dark

All the best of reasons
For you to fade from me
Before I become you
And fade from myself

Severed, a soul torn free
From a future not to be
Forsaken alone
I will walk these dark roads

These dark roads I'll walk alone
For missteps, never undone
Walk away from a season cold and dark
Before I become you and fade from myself


3. ACCEPTANCE AND NEGATION

Torn from the essence, of a constant entity
Into an ever-changing journey, to embark upon alone
Calm breaks to chaos, light becomes obscured
In a sleepless void of emptiness, the mind is rendered numb

Fall away, release the fear
Tear down, negate remorse
Far away, I breathe again
As all thoughts of you slowly fade

Stand and face the agony, defy the storm and rise again
Exult in the arms of exile, revel in this scorn
Redesign the course of fate, with each step control regained
Redefine existence and resolve to overcome

Reminisce the steps mislaid, for this end to never come
Yet retracing steps, a hollow task, when the error lies exposed
To live the past anathema, is to become despair again
Transcendence to a new life comes, when the past finds its end

In my presence, the crushing weight of conscience
In my absence, expectations die

Stand and face the agony, defy the storm and rise again
Exult in the arms of exile, revel in this scorn
Redesign the course of fate, with each step control regained
Redefine existence and resolve to overcome

Embrace the end
Acceptance brings negation
From shame arise, defiant
And spit in the face of destiny


4. AND SO BEGINS THE FALL

Luminous, intoxicating, the aurora of the sun
Resplendent rays, cast a shadow, upon fading ruins
A question of finality, and the ending of a dream
Knowingly rests upon the tongue, of solitude and silence hewn

The resounding cry of failure, the Autumn air consumes
Fading to a memory, the warmth of summer's fire
A frozen epitaph will stand, buried amidst a mantle of snow
The wind will sing an elegy, of triumph, defeat and tragedy

And so begins the fall
A life departs this hollow shell
An ember's smoke transcends the fire
Released, ascending fate's design

A monument of sorrow
To a life long imposed
Ashen remains of immolation
Fading into Winter's desolation

Fading, the ember dies
Consumed, this life departs


5. TOWARD THE EMPYREAN

As silence falls the cadence fades
Words so vile escape on wings born of tongues
Infecting the mind of the shattered soul
Evoking the frailty of ignorance

Setting ablaze the serenity unspoken word
Had long entombed in silent litany
A facade of calm amidst the agony
Spiraling back to the start of this depravity

To rest in the solace, the arms of despair
Amidst the idle agreement of false peace
Or face the flames of adversity
To accept the wisdom of scathing tongues

For am I failure, the collapsing icon of loss
For am I one with the bleak aethyr of nothingness
Facile to yield to despair, the arms of tragedy
Yet to what end shall I resign to agony

And with every step I take
Forsaking the path of a life forlorn
Ascending the torment of the mind
Forging onward toward the Empyrean

Shadows of a past life
Drenched in black aethyr
Frozen in this coldness
The strength to conquer my despair
Flames of hatred rising
Awakens the struggle to survive
The will to recreate life
The lure of nihilism endures

In this moment, the failure of life and desire must be cast aside
Exhausted, the final escape, this shell must depart in the flames of resurrection
To the iron grip of solitude, I succumb, suffocate and thus transcend
And wrest vitality from the cold hand of the dying soul

Resolve to defy the chaos within
The frail ideologies of this world
For the mind is one's own, I am subject to none
Save for those inflicted upon myself

For every memory consumed in flame
For every moment of life's past, inhumed in dusk
These ashen remains, I cast unto the wind
Resolve to embrace the fear and rise again

And with every step I take
Forsaking the path of a life forlorn
Ascending the torment of the mind
Forging onward toward the Empyrean

Imposing walls within the mind, dull and glazed were these lightless, apathetic eyes
Weathered by the shame of this unending storm, I lit the flames of hate just to feel alive again

For shall I bend to another's will, embrace the fate given me?
Or hold their lives in a steadfast grasp, rise from these ashes and erase all despair

Lost was I upon this path of negativity
An awakening of the soul, from death to life again
A promise of a new beginning, and to transcend
Through dark and light I walked these roads and found serenity

And a peace that no one truly knows
Acceptance and negation of this mortal coil