1. BEFORE YOU KNOW

We are the ones who'll starve
Living in ignorance
Abbreviate our words to save on borrowed time

Obsessed and unaware
We all abuse ourselves
I've done the same, too long
and now I'm suffering

Looking at you, it's real
Beginning of the end
Of all the things we loved
Embraced over the years

With our shattered hands
Our eyes will turn to stone
There'll be no more tomorrow
Everything we live for gone

Abandon all the others to stand a chance
Leave behind your friends
Like the not so distant future
Life on your own is bleak

Slowly, it attacks you
And before you know
You cannot recover
In the end we are disabled


2. BENEATH THE THEATRE

Hiding from the rain late one winters night
I walk in the cold to see if I can see you in the light
Although you're long gone
They help me believe, tell me where to go
Under cover of the darkness you come out
And by night only will you show your face

They may think it's strange, ignoring whispers
Denial of a few, a few too many times
Waiting in the dark, whiskey by my side
I expect to see what I do not believe

Shivering inside, beneath the theater
Where those who used to drink threw their time away
And I think it's strange to be here waiting
Where nothing is alive
Your cold breath shakes me

Usher me to my place
And leave me be

In complete oblivion until I saw you in a photograph
Your eyes burned sweetly into the lens
The lace on your dress preserved in time
Before me in such clarity
The blood, the flesh, the bone still there
But somehow gone


3. THROUGH EYES OF GOLD

To know what he knows now before it was too late
Would change the air he breathes from dust to something more like smoke

It's quite a burden
To see his face
To feel that curing smile touch him
Forgiveness is granted, so it's assumed
But left behind a debt remains

The seeds of a soul were sewn
Back into the earth
Carried gently to the ground
Through his smiles he lives discretely in denial
Rusty leaves among the soil, in cold spring morning winds

He speaks of him through eyes of gold
And rests at night before a picture on the wall
If he could share his deepest thoughts
That boy would know
He is not, he was never alone


4. ANTICIPATION

In confusion I'm shaken
You were trusted with a key
Although nothing's missing
I never
Expected such a crime
Not even from you
Your surveillance will haunt us

You know someone's watching
Every minute of the day
And find yourself hiding
Our possessions mean nothing
It's your prying little eyes
That have taken the warmth
Forever

When we swallow our fear to roam free
Never for a moment will we enjoy the peace
Confined to our home
Like a prison we cannot leave
An institution to punish us for your deceit


5. SUCCUMBING TO VIOLENCE

Lying still and crumpled on the ground
She was protecting herself
Suffering his cruel embrace,
Forgiving each time he had never felt so alive

Her cries swept fiercly across the wilderness
And like a moth to a flame she clung to him
Screaming in agony in the moonlight, crying out to anyone
Escape, impossible

No time to question a call for assistance
I had to shut my eyes and run
Unprepared and so afraid as I hastened to the abomination
Too late to rescue her

Born into the cycle of malevolence
Unknowing of life away from fear
Watching everyone around her succumbing to violence
The only way to go


6. A MOMENT TO WASTE

It hurts my eyes
An endless gaze takes away my hope
The icy windows right beside me will admit no light
It's bright outside, air is dull like smoke
Fills the dimness that consumes my time

They say that time is precious,
Unfortunately it's always wasted
Spent staring at a harsh light,
Yet as dim as possible, against our will

With a hunch in my back and a frown on my face,
I drag my feet, so I won't complain
I think the mind chain is broken
Its weakest link completely forgotten
Rusting in the dew

They say that time is precious,
Unfortunately it's always wasted
Spent staring at a harsh light,
Yet as dim as possible, it drags me in