1. THORN IN THE LION'S PAW

Shaken from slumber
Split and severed
Blindly they seek
Faded twin, once loved

In this wounded way
Beast is born
To wander crooked paths
In this way beast is broken

Trailing red in bended grass
An offering to guiding hands
That lift from graves too early
The burning hearts of life


2. IMAGE OF CONTROL

Turn aside
Steady eyes belie the fear
Small hollow words, clatter to the ground
Broken
Ruin has come, not fire
Or in ashen rain
Only in turgid silence
Hanging, flayed
Submerged in presence summoned
It expands with breath, filling rooms
Welling up from the tar choked springs
Reeking black star, shining weary light
Bloodied eyes, no tears
Bloodied eyes, no light
Know not to what this moment's owed
Only slipping in shuddering dance
Towards cold, radiant dissolve


3. RIGID MAN

Behind closed doors
Lanterns sway in pulsing dark
Though the body's near
Rigid man with soiled hands
Cannot touch, cannot feel

Between walls in narrow cell
Glaring light extinguished
Cover, tender scalp exposed
Rigid man falls to summons, red
Drained and weak

Flaccid body, bent in muddied gutter
No truth unwrung from its marrow cold
Begs for mercy, for cleansing holy death
Only broken may it pass
Into golden dawn
Forgiven


4. WILL TO REACH

In simple sermons it began:
"You are not yourself, you are me
There are only these words
And by them shall you live"
So forged was the mask of thousands
As child's face dissolves
Who so speaks shall name him
Who so calls will bring him
To his knees

I will dance for you
Behind the mask
Something small fiercely gleams
All that's needed to claim the light
Is the will to reach


5. HOLLOW KING

His ghost dissolves in dust
Formless, dragging heels through the dirt
Small clouds
Mark his passing through the house
Here, not here
Watching his ghost dissolve

In the sun
Here
He hovered, he wavered
Not here
Swollen tongue, cut
In the sun, gone

Air heavy, knotted
Leaden voice echoes

Oh, hollow king
Lord of emptiness
Fear as master

Your rule is null
You have been crowned
Hollow King
Hollow King