1. PENTARCH

As the years drag on
Burdensome accumulations
Towing the yoke of history
Tilling arid soil
Once defiant, honed and gleaming,
Marred by regrets and defeats
In private wars of little wider consequence
The blade now dull and heavy,
Futile

No closer than before
The end can never come
Only a fool would seek
Release from his labours
Within my panopticon
Lashed, limbs outstretched
Fastened at five points
Dislocated from the core

Withering in stasis
Awaiting conclusion

Searing heat of illumination
Ceaseless pain of salvation

Searing
Heat
Ceaseless
Pain


2. FLAYED

Abuse cycles
Expert cruelty
Punishment ritual
Thoughts piercing from within

I know the way
To cause the pain
Necessary to know
Hurt my self
Again

I receive with anticipation
Peel away the mask
Walk once more the pathway down
Far beyond the threshold

Hurt my self
Hurt

Suffering’s eternal gift
Re-open oldest wounds
Self-inflicted violence

Hurt my self
Again
Again
Again

Flay me to the bone
Tear myself apart
Beaten without mercy

Mind set upon itself
Repeat the same mistakes
Ritual punishment
This is all I know

Hurt my self
Again
Again
Again

Hurt

Me

Again


3. INNER OCEANS

Stranded in this vessel
Far away from hope
Drifting amid a restless calm
Persistent ache of body’s memory

Dull senses, phantom pain
Of struggles passed, of lonely deaths
Of painful rebirths
Floating here abandoned
Await the promised storms

Drowning without warning
Mental tempest surge and swell

Sunburnt and exposed again
At the mercy of the flood
Smash me against eroded cliffs
Pulverised to beads of sand

Once more regain myself
Re-inhabiting the shell
Corpse dredged up from ocean floor
Rinsed and ready
To repeat

Drowning without warning
Mental tempest surge and swell
Overcome the boundaries
Overwhelming all defence
Torrents of emotion swallow everything
Frozen histories liquefied by prismatic hourglass

Set adrift on inner oceans


4. –

(Instrumental)


5. GOSSAMER PALL

This veil lay upon me
Thin as spun gold
Heavier than all matter
Transparent to all
Obscuring sight

Falling within, gently bound
Tighten inescapable mantle

In contemplation, still
In languor, silent
Dwell here alone to consider it all

A gravelike serenity beneath misery’s shroud

Caught in a web
Lacework of fear and doubt
Smothering slowly
Until the flame is out


6. SHATTERED TEMPLES

Passenger to poisoned world
Ruled by the whim of small men, piteous and shallow
False heirs bold with facile prowess
Lamb in wolfskin, miserable and afraid
Stands upon a vale of blood and bone
Erecting monuments to vanity
Boot on the throat of humanity

Manipulator, captor, oppressor
Hated circle of tyrants - feasting on suffering
Drunk on grief
Fattened long on death’s bounty

Dethrone, banish, erase them all
Render temples razed
Shatter icons and sweep them away

Not a soul shall mourn the passing
Of a tyrant

Under a stone with no inscription
Lay not even a fragment
Not dust
No trace
No memory

Nothing at all


7. ENDURANCE

A sensation so familiar
Subtle constriction, unrelenting
Laboured breath
I’ve grown old
I’ve become so tired
But I go on

For the richness of life
Revealed in small moments
How precious these things
For which to endure this world

Quickly forgotten

Deep calls to deep
In obsolete tongues
Seductive black speech
Lure souls to oblivion
Pain and grief surround
Earth ablaze with hubris
Unceasing horrors yet unknown
As serpent consumes itself

Circa me ardet
Et tenebrae nos vocat
In terra pulchritudinis
Nutrio anima

The richness of life
Revealed in all moments of patient reflection
The self is dissolved
A crystal logic connects all to the source
How precious the gift
Of breath

The eternal promise
Revealed in brief kindness
How fragile the beauty
For which to resist all hells
Strengthening my resolve
To overcome old pain
Cast aside cloak of shadow
And look upon the sun

The depth of a love
Restores me in all moments
How precious you are

I’ll endure a while longer


8. A SMART KID (PORCUPINE TREE COVER)

Stranded here on planet earth
It's not much but it could be worse
Everything's free here, there's no crowds

Winter lasted five long years
No sun will come again I fear
Chemical harvest was sown

And I will wait for you
Until the sky is blue
And I will wait for you
What else can I do?

A spaceship from another star
They ask me where all the people are
What can I tell them?

I tell them I'm the only one
There was a war but I must have won
Please take me with you