1. O BRIDE UNWEDDED

Радуйся Невесто Неневестная!


2. THE SIXTH HOUR

The world is full of madness.
People cry, “you must perish!”
Words replace the nimbus; in simultaneity, the proud replace the humble.
Driven out like beasts into the wilderness, those of us who aren’t struck down first.
Bereft of worship and kin, cast from houses of prayer and rest
No share for us meek ones in the promise of peace and safety.
Have we ever known such gnawing hunger?
Have we ever known such biting cold?
We know not whether we are on earth or whether we are in hell.

К Тебе чья слава вечно царит
Молитвы святых возносяться!

Есть одна Церковь, которая никогда не исчезнит
Есть одно пламя ниугасимое
Оно будет горет бесконечно после того как твоя плоть истлеет

Gone is the world of innocent Onfim; no more wild beasts to playact.
They are driven out by the machine, no more room for the peace of Sarov.
The sixth hour has indeed come for us. See the darkness descending upon the entire land!
Shall we endure until the ninth hour, only to bow our heads and give up our breath?

Do you hear us now, O men of steel?
Did you know that we pray for you every day?
Come to your senses, see through the eyes of love
Will you feed on our flesh and blood, or share in His?
The deeper the darkness, the brighter shines the Light
Your grand marches will be silenced, new troparia take their place
The seed you have unwittingly spread
Watch it now grow into a tree reaching to Heaven


3. DIER EZ-ZOR

When old men make young men march
They do it to make them strong
But now that things have reversed
I can't say they mean the same for us

Purple and scarlet, they shove us along
Cries of hunger and thirst are ignored
We stumble and fall, they laugh
As the sand piles about our feet

Off to the north, two points of promise
Sink into the horizon
Fear grips my failing heart
That my eyes will never behold them again
So much for the loyal millet

You have failed to crush our spirits
With our faith, our dignity is preserved
Our story will be told abroad
How long do you think you can justify it?

Our bones were found, the place was marked
The destroyers cannot remove it from memory


4. THE PROOF

Intersecting threads throughout history
Forgotten notions of hierarchy
Charged to witness without template
No dark age from which to emerge

The helpless ones who think they are mighty
Demand proof on their own terms
They know you cannot give it to them
And this makes them bold and arrogant
Lay aside these monuments to futility
Have you subsumed their story, too?
Unlearn, and return to the word at the beginning

Remember
The beauty which will save the world
Laid out before our eyes
In fractals
The seed falls to the ground and dies
They cannot see how death is turned to glory

Always running faster not to fall on your face
Allow for rest, decay, and see what remains
What is gold, silver, precious stone
Will be quite evident to you then

Fear not this end, however it comes
You know where you are to keep your mind
When it seems that Grace has been withdrawn
Look across the past, see the cloud in the west

The proof is the subduing of kingdoms
The proof is the brilliant glow
The proof is the fulfillment of every story,
The Solution to all problems

The proof reddens the soil across the world
Even to this day
It cannot be denied by any veil or shadow
For it cries out from the ground

Here are the gate and the ladder
Strip, divest, for the crawl, the climb
Taste anew the fruit of Life
And step further toward the pinnacle of love


5. IDOLS

The deity of right angles housed within
Deaf and dumb plastic and glass
Adjust your expectations, your definition of blessing
Pray for a good harvest, pray for a greater cascade

Justify Voltaire with this deus in machina
Collapse East and West, and return that which was removed
Pressing on despite the confusion of tongues
To complete the tower to an ill-defined heaven

Can we break through the deceptive machinations of impulse?
How many of the reticent have been pilloried!
Enraptured, adoring, caught down to the third hell
Empowered, unafraid to utter things that ought not to be expressed
How long shall we train up the child in the way he should not go?

Let us now trample upon this basilisk
Smash the idols, pull down the tower, defragment
No longer drunk with wine of the passion of her immoralities
Let the merchants wail; we proceed with sober mind

For even the idol which was caused to speak could not answer
When I asked how to escape the snares the enemy lays over the earth
I felt the answer struggling to escape my inmost being
It could not be found in these rebellious gods


6. STREAMS

To be given tears
To cry for my sins and take the seventh step upward
And receive the light yoke of compunction
Free my eyes, my cold, hardened heart
To break into pieces

Departed from this life, they still set an example
Through wood come sweet-smelling streams
As I have heard before, afar off
Droplets that heal
Visible in the darkest room

Even as the recruit flashed a smile
At the innocence of the child playing at his feet
Awe was there; fear as well
But my faithless eyes remained dry

I waited outside to speak the cyclical words of guilt
I was given time then to dwell on the many evil things which I had done
Storm clouds gathered; I moved to shelter
And watched the storehouses be unleashed

A single droplet falls down onto my cheekbone
And I am greatly humbled
For I was finally given tears to wash me


7. WHEN YOUR WELL IS DRY

You can't stop the flames when your well is dry
Your neglect and your gluttony have left you defenseless
Lacking even brackish water to put our this fire
Spreading, consuming, and devouring your world

You should have seen it coming
It has advanced for a millennium
It comes to destroy your house of straw
Still you deny

Embers still burn in the holy house that you once loved
Yet grew to despise and then defiled
The fire watch was broken, the enmity running too deep
The scars of betrayal still waiting to be healed, a home to reclaim

You turn your head to claim there is no fire
Remain this way, and this is how you'll die

Without a soaking rain pouring from the heavens
You must dig, you must fight, you must claw to keep what ground you have
Call for aid, make amends with your brothers and sisters across the line
Our wells have yet a drop to spare for you

Even now the flame is set ablaze within the holy house of old
If you unite your power to our own, we can unleash the flood