1 . A FORTRESS CALLED HOME

(Instrumental)


2. SONGS UPON WINE-STAINED TONGUES

Meet me where the sand meets the sea
My home is atop that crumbling cliff
Follow me up the steep path, you may come in
More a fortress, less of a home
It's the only place I call my own
And the tall ship on the grey seas when they flash emerald green

Foolish though it may be
To indulge in all that we've been
We'll uncork the spirits of our past
And welcome them in

Oh, the laughter flushed in your cheeks
Your legato half-rhymes
Echo down tapestried halls
I'm almost alive

Songs upon wine-stained tongues
Stories over hearty soup
Let me remind you of all you forgot you knew

Down the hall, up the stairs
Most nights I spiral down, down, down
But would you like a vista of a starlit town?
Higher still, been so long
No one dared visit in eons
Look just there, breathe the night air
Beneath the stars

Our hands are like ice
Should have known that you're like me
If you have time, I'd like to hear
All about the things you've seen
Those spectres in your eyes
The seabreeze in your hair
What dark voyage left you soulfully scarred?

They shunned me, a fatherless boy
With only one friend, who taught me the words of men
Then I wove them in melodies and garnered acclaim
I sang for my fortune, for all that was lost
I saw every kingdom but never forgot
The one who brought me from silence to serenade

The way was rough, the sea took my life
To a decadent hell in eternal night
With a demon who dealt in souls and granted dreams
It called me Darling, gave me its years
I live on borrowed time with tears
Long-run dry, so I weep them in songs of memories

I know that one, minor IV and back home?
The deep-rooted ache, to be seen, to be known
Our hands like ice, but comfort glows
Like embers fanned by songs on wine-stained tongues
Yeah!

We laugh, I cry, the night goes on
The shadows of old friends long-gone
Somehow doesn't frighten you away

Cinnamon smoke, candlelight on your face
Fingers entwined in the night's embrace
Our eyes shut, but you've seen me, and I've seen you
Comfort in company, and songs we both knew

I've seen you, you've seen me
If our demons dance, so can we

I live for the days when your fangs lay bare
Your stormy oceans and starlight stare
To hell with it all
I love you now and forever


3. ALMOSTTOWN

Cold stone beneath my feet
Wrapped in furs and dressing gown
November night caressed my face
The only fond touch I allow
Moonlight floods my bedroom through the window where I gaze
From far above the mad and merry crowd

Candlelight and laughter warms their windows, crease their faces
Around the bonfire in the square, the songs of all their ages
They're the lost and broken, I'm their keeper in the keep
But they sing words that I can't bear to speak aloud

They sing of love, they sing of regret
Time doesn't wait for the dead
They sing of hope, they sing of fears
They sing of friends they lost to years
So don't wait until your life is over
Say your piece now
Or join the lost souls in my Almosttown

Now I spend eternity with songs I never wrote
Peace in isolation, in the fortress I call home
Perched in a stone gesture looming lonely in the sky
Musing on those endless might-have-beens

While they sing of love, they sing of regret
Time doesn't wait for the dead
They sing of hope, they sing of fears
They sing of friends they lost to years
So keep your dream alive
Never bend or bow
Or you'll join the lost souls in my Almosttown

Did I choose the wrong fate?
Will I ever know?
Realising too late
Don't know where to go
All those years spent dreaming, fighting, never knowing why
I can't deny what I have always been

They sing of love, they sing of regret
Time doesn't wait for the dead
They sing of hope, they sing of fears
They sing of friends they lost to years
So keep your dream alive
Never bend or bow
Or you'll join the lost souls in my Almosttown


4. IMPOSSIBLE TOWER

I walk these corridors alone
Fingertips trailing along worn stone
Cold beneath starlight and crisp air
Speckled moonlight in the alcoves
Yesterdays rot through the old bones
Of these spires built on grief and despair

Masteries, ravenous
I see no daylight, feel no cold
Honourless, lonesome reign
Every soul may know my face
I'm without friend, without foe

No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god
No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god
You can only learn to live, and forgive your demons

Forfeit intention to survive
Hoped through lies, led to demise
Humanity seeped away, as a dream
Slips from consciousness at first light
Terrors prowl just out of sight
Through lofty arches and echoes of memories

Masteries, ravenous
I see no daylight, feel no cold
Honourless, lonesome reign
Every soul may know my face
I'm without friend, without foe

No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god
No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god

Masteries, ravenous
I see no daylight, feel no cold
Honourless, lonesome reign
Every soul may know my face
I'm without friend, without foe

No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god
No one can grant forgiveness when you're your own god
You can only learn to live, and forgive your demons


5. LOVE'S SOUVENIR

Behold the gallery of love's souvenirs
Behold the proof it wasn't just a dream
My mind is a museum of things held dear
My bones, a mausoleum for my grief
Somehow I loved a decade each passing year
A child chasing love through high esteem
No resting on my laurels, there's just die or win
Sequestered in the dark, afraid to be

So bury me
There is no poetry
In rotting away in bed
Rotting in my regrets

I wish I knew what came before these castle walls
I wish I could remember how to be
But in the winding darkness of those chasmal halls
There's not a single echo left of me

So bury me
There is no poetry
In rotting away in bed
Rotting in my regrets
Define the line
Where loathing and longing lie
Where I flinch from touch
Where I crave too much

Paralysed in crumbling foundations
Captured by ghosts of speculations
Trapped in time cadavers keep the score
Ashamed in desperation
In throes of trepidation
A flight of preservation
A blight upon my heart
Love's souvenir

Contritus es ultra determinatio
Numquan satris erit
Mundus melius sine

Bury me
There is no poetry
In rotting away in bed
Rotting in my regrets
Define the line
Where loathing and longing lie
Where I flinch from touch
Where I crave too much


6. ARCHITECT OF CREATION

Finally the sun has set on my eternal eve
But with immortal life comes solemn responsibility
When everything I've ever wished is finally real to me
All parade before my eyes: a cabaret of dreams

First, the castle perched upon the cliff above the sea
Next, repair The Great Divide, to dock at Fiddler's Green
Then, the endless rum and banquets, though I never eat
Instead, consume the husks upon the shores when I grow weak

Fear me, love me, do as I say
For I will be the keeper of your soul to whom you pray

Death was never so empowering
The lost are mine for the devouring
The world of drowned is mine to shape
I, the Architect of Creation

I could paint this world as the scenery of my soul
Just consume the light of life so I never grow old
I will be their saviour, should they wish it to be saved
All that they require or desire, just be named

Fear me
Love me
Do as I say

Death was never so empowering
The days are gone of crying and cowering
I'll bury both my pride and shame
I, the Architect of Creation

Starting with the carcass of the beast upon the shore
Megalomaniacally, I'll feast forevermore

And though with every wish I grant
Be it theirs or mine
The shreds of my humanity
Turn sharply in decline
Cosmic powers come with an inescapable price
But I will be a queen in a world of my design

Death was never so empowering (my design)
The lost are mine for the devouring
The world of drowned is mine to shape
I, the Architect

Death was never so empowering
The days are gone of crying and cowering
I'll bury both my pride and shame
I, the Architect of Creation

Creation


7. PORTRAIT OF US

She sheds a million tears on rainy bay windows
Your love like silent winters piled on evergreens
Your care, the cold stone in the fortress we called home
When autumn bleeds malted memories

You named me in my darkness
A prophecy unfolds
Now we're cowards far apart
All you ever let me know

Love is angry
Love is cold
Love is absent
Never told
(Am I your carbon copy?
Am I your unborn son?)
Love is judgement
Love is wordless
Grudgingly accepts the worthless
(All that your lessons taught me
Life is to be won)

It was you who named me in my darkness
Raised me to perfection
Just remember pain and blame and fondness
Are stored in your reflection
I am a portrait of us

With lacquered claws, I beckon
Grand, sweeping gestures
And fanged expressions
For I am the villain in every story
All I ever wanted was to be more than

Cracked clean slates and tear-stained
Midnight confessions
Forgive me in all my
Failed perfections

Love is angry
Love is cold
Love is absent
Never told
(Am I your carbon copy?
Am I your unborn son?)
Love is judgement
Love is wordless
Grudgingly accepts the worthless
(All that your lessons taught me
Life is to be won)

It was you who named me in my darkness
Raised me to perfection
Just remember pain and blame and fondness
Are stored in your reflection
I am a portrait of you, me, and

Her eyes sparkle in illustrated firelight
While yours are wide in apprehension
Our colours faded in the gradient of time
What happened to those years?

Love is angry
Love is cold
Love is absent
Never told
(Am I your carbon copy?
Am I your unborn son?)
Love is judgement
Love is wordless
Grudgingly accepts the worthless
(All that your lessons taught me
Life is to be won)

It was you who named me in my darkness
Raised me to perfection
Just remember pain and blame and fondness
Are stored in your reflection

Father, forgive me if I'm your carbon copy
If I'm your unborn son
All that your lessons taught me
Life is to be won
I am a portrait of us


8. EMERALD NECKLACE

Never cared much for religion
You're the one that I believed in

I don't know if I believe in gods or afterlives

But if there's a heaven, then wait for me there
By the sea, in perpetual Autumn
We'll walk with our arms linked, and warm drinks in hand
And smile at our dreams, 'cause we got 'em
Around us, the red-golds of October hues
And the decades of I-love-yous
And arm-in-arm walks through the Emerald Necklace of Boston

With some luck, we'll know our true love
Cherish them before they leave us

Will you know me when we meet beyond this fleeting life?

What if there's no heaven?
What if that's another lie?
Our melody will live forever
Never die

I don't care what you believe, If it's gods or afterlives

'Cause if there's a heaven, you'll wait for me there
By the sea, in perpetual Autumn
We'll walk with our arms linked, and warm drinks in hand
And smile at our dreams, 'cause we got 'em
Around us, the red-golds of October hues
And the decades of I-love-yous
And arm-in-arm walks through the Emerald Necklace of Boston


9. WHERE SORROWS BEAR MY NAME

(Hail the sovereign darkness)
(O ferryman, o keeper of our souls)
(Hail the dark one)
(Hear our conflagrant reverence)
(Hail the dark one)

Sweet November whispers through Autumn's crown
Through unbenighted castle grounds

Silent cells house my shame
Below the surface, locked away
There lies the truth, the villain's reign
Where sorrows bear my name

What is it to be known, to be seen, to forgive?
Unbound by conditions, to live
Without aching for home
Crumbling within
Fearing the demons beneath my skin?

Sing through lonesome winters
Disguise the sound of unrequited beaten-downs

Secrecy breeds disgrace
What was lost can't be replaced
The chains of truth you never faced
Tomorrow never came

What is it to be known, to be seen, to forgive?
Unbound by conditions
To live without aching for home
Crumbling within
Fearing the demons beneath my skin?
What is it to feel safe, both in body and in mind?
Unburdened by your guilt?
Surviving the aching for home
Not knowing why
Searching for something you may never find?

What is it to be known, to be seen, to forgive?
Unbound by conditions
To live without aching for home
Crumbling within
Fearing the demons beneath my skin?

Silent cells house my shame
Below the surface, locked away
There lies the truth, the villain's reign
Where sorrows bear my name
(Hail the sovereign darkness)
(O ferryman, o keeper of our souls)
(Hail the dark one)
Where sorrows bear my name
(Hear our conflagrant reverence)
Where sorrows bear my name
(Hail the dark one)


10. NO PLACE FOR US

Stop
Cool your temper
It's you and me, together, in the light
Tell me, what can you see?
What can you hear?
Take a long breath, and remember
How once we swore forever, in the night

It has been the way of the sun
To sink and rise again
It is not to blame for the night
Nor should we discount the beauty of stars
For eons past, and eons to come
In dark and in light, we are one
I'll find you in every life
Again and again

No
No more pretending
You're safe to be with me as you are
Stop
You're repenting
Move on and let the whole be greater
Than the sum of parts

It has been the way of the sun
To sink and rise again
It is not to blame for the night
Nor should we discount the beauty of stars
For eons past, and eons to come
In dark and in light, we are one
I'll find you in every life
Again and again

There may be no place for us
If the world is unkind and uncaring
But when all is told
We're past declaring
I'll always be your home
There may be no time for us
So don't waste your time on despairing
Lay the past to rest
Give your best
And know you can always come home


11. HOUSE OF LIES

I know a place where dreams have died
Buried beneath a house of lies
Here in the darkness, we survive
Chanting the lessons learned in life

Home's where you grow
You don't feel alone
How does it feel?
Well how should I know?
All I Know
Home doesn't hurt

Deep in the dark where pain resides
Beneath a life of compromise
Oh, some things we barely dare to dream
Someplace we're sure, we're safe, we're seen

Does it hurt?
Does it hurt?
Forgiving and accepting all we've yearned for?
Home

Someplace you belong
Were loved all along
There's no relief
The day that you're gone
That's where you grow
You don't feel alone
How does it feel?
Hope one day we'll know
They tell me, home doesn't hurt

I know a place where dreams have died
Buried beneath a house of lies

That's where you grow
You don't feel alone
How does it feel?
I want you to know
You've always belonged
Were loved all along
There's no relief
The day that you're gone
You speak and you're heard
It's what you deserve
You get what you need
And you own your worth
When you are home, does it hurt?

Forgive, but don't forget all that you've learned


12. THE OLD HURT OF BEING LEFT BEHIND

Old pain left my heart with a cavernous abyss
And the answer echoes from the bottom
Will you help me find the path down into the dark?
I'm scared of being alone down in the deep dark

All the ones I left first, so I won't feel this way
Hoping they'd still be here, know they're gone anyway
I always moved on before mourning, just to survive
And when morning breaks, I can't bear to step in the light

Down, deeper down, through the years
Past the fragmented memories of people I lost
The closer we get, the more that it aches
Til I can't feel the pain, but I can't stop the tears

Will you help me find a way
Out of the dark?
Am I too late?
Healing hurts
I've got to find
The old hurt of being left behind

So now we are Here, through the eyes of a child
At the bottom, where Now has no meaning
I'm trapped in the pain of loss, and not knowing why
Eons have passed to the day, I still don't know why

Down, deeper down, through the years
Past the fragmented memories of people I lost
The closer we get, the more that it aches
Til I can't feel the pain, but I can't stop the tears

Down, deeper down, through the years
Past the fragmented memories of people I lost
How did I learn to turn it all off
When the absence of pain hurts more?

Will you help me find a way
Out of the dark?
Am I too late?
Healing hurts
I've got to find
The old hurt of being left behind

Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are
Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are

Down, deeper down, through the years
Past the fragmented memories of people I lost
The closer we get, the more that it aches
Til I can't feel the pain, but I can't stop the tears

Down, deeper down, through the years
Past the fragmented memories of people I lost
How did I learn to turn it all off
When the absence of pain hurts more?

Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are
Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are

Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are
Somewhere, there is someone who loves you
Before and after they learn what you are