1. HYPOXIC

Crawling and frail…
Cold, concrete prisons
Take the ardor of all
Our very being

Stark confines
Dark walls
No convalescence
Breath dissipating
Wasted, hypoxic
Longing for the free, open air

No purpose
Woeful
Our obsolescence
Useless, we rot
In empty stagnation
Lost, ashamed – we wither away

I wander through the desert
Of a mind long lost in absence
Drifting through the futility
Of what was left behind
When our nature’s calling was cast aside for hubris
And these iron towers – these steel, wrought shackles

Drifting through the futility of what was left behind

Alone we gaze into our long-forgotten selves
We cannot recognize our own reflection

We built these towers
And we must tear them down
Lest we forget ourselves
And suffocate alone


2. MISTS ALONG FLORENCIA

Dragging, tired footsteps
Through the ancient grains of sand
Snow drifting down...
Obscuring my trail..
Filling my footsteps

Jagged these rock are, rolling – fervent waves
Assault grey, hateful cove
Upon which I shamble towards the horizon
No man’s destination
I am lost

This stormy, grey sea
A backdrop to ancient glory
Hail now turned to stone
The victor stands alone

There is no colour here, no life here
Only wrath permeates

Vows spoken to the wind
Utterance of will, of vision

A treacherous trail taken
Resonant furor demands
Attentive ear, steadfast feet

Wind swallows hedonic visions
Here, all past is abandoned
Laid to rest with fallen gods

Lone, defiant oak overturned
Surveys this dark panorama
Here I sit, here I submit
To the hail of rock
To the battle-scarred landscape

Return to a land of life
To walk; and live; and breathe
Forget not this hateful place
Forget not the vow, the sacrifice
Shipwreck cove remains


3. TRANSMIGRATION I - PELAGIC VOIDS

Flames scorch the horizon
As I crawl towards the shore
A thousand lives I’ve endured
And more...

See now – The sky’s afire
Ash falls – Extinguishes
Sun light – Eyes blinded by
Midnight – The absence of time

Behind there are only ghosts
Ahead islands of doubt
Against this tide there is only submission
The anchor pulls me down

See now – The sky’s afire
Ash falls – Extinguishes
Sun light – Eyes blinded by
Midnight – The absence of time

Aeons pass in the blackness
Pelagic void of vitality

Yet the will gathers slowly... to become...

Seconds scrape by like a glacier
Silence chimes the hour of infinity

This shroud and sinew, rotting forever
Flesh to dust, to depths, to nothingness

Yet the will gathers slowly... to become...

In twisting fathoms, the self holds together
In depths of memory – resolve grinds against time

And when the blaze has long gone cold
And surging waves are quelled
To form surface, crystalline
Mirror of a sanguine sky
I live again


4. TRANSMIGRATION II - THE CLEANSING ASH

Burning lunar eye
A sign to all those abandoned
Corrupted in fear
Godless rays shine
Upon the denied, the defeated
The wretched unseen

The unseen

The war has been long
Human ignorance longer still
There is nothing to be won
When every grain weighs with insolence

We inheritors of dust
We sculptors of smoke
We rejectors of foresight
Find our virtue in the blaze

Our virtue in the blaze

You are the lord of death, I give you my heart
This heart that is now your burning ground
Ignorance there and the self shall be consumed by fire

Turn the hourglass and begin again
Let these torn and toxic veins
Flow once more with the blood
That was spent in our haste to ascend

Cleanse the scars