EPT
I. The City (1) [AKA The Outside]
In a city of drought, rape whistles and tweakers
Sat back in the dunes and scribbled stuttered words into sneakers
All nights are all-nighters, soon shift to all-weekers
Just trying to find the mirage of an oasis in the beakers
The heartbeats that shift peaks under the guise of taloned beaks
Here just a crown- a rose and some thorns, the unforgettable Sheikh
Left slipping like the sand from an hourglass
Trying to find the hour of glory only to find the hour passed
Skyscrapers, built upon the bones of the dead
Where the sun settles, the land of the dread
The endless wastes, under the dead generation's gaze
Over shadow leaving giants with no legacy to follow
Scarred hearts, only filled with the promise of all hollow
Stacked upon the piles of, all the wasted days
The should've-tormorrows, left to a self-laurel
Now filled with sorrow, the sunshine slathered horror
Coated in shadow from the leaves
Like it taught the art of a heart under sleeves
Understood the silence and the stages
Though it left the innocence in stasis
II. No May
The twisted and the fallen, like leaves to the rake
Some men just break, pray they leave and never wake
Others act different but all end up with the same fate
Praying this is the day that the sun falls late
Drowning in possibilities, the toxins fill the veins
Little darkened chains to the man without the reins
Death's a graduation, still skipping grades
If only to look back and say - I wasn't afraid
III. An Empire Left To Silence
Dancing over thoughts probably best kept to silence
All the world's a stage, but sometimes the light is limeless
And sometimes that light is blinding, sometimes it's absent
Until you're left passing, the unobtainable balance
A tragedy, you'll never have the crown but your grave will
Soil soaked, six feet above all unwritten notes
When the rain hits, the crown never floats
Simply stays adorning the gravestone, forever the king of the hill
IV. Fading Daylight
I don't like the day, it always fades
I don't like the way we give out grades
When shadows dance and flicker 'mongst the shade
Waiting for the day, that it can fade
Waiting for the honesty, it lies in greed
When people live still and never speak what they plead
I don't think the light is for good deeds
But I don't like the night, it always bleeds
V. The Sunset
A dance of glances and sadness across an eruption of colors
Like the birth of a new summer, but left with no others
A song of storms and thunder left the night sky gray
Like the end of all time, like the end of all days
A drop of rain and paint amongst a concrete canvas
Where the toad sits and absorbs all the madness
A story of sunshine and roses buried under the mud
Where the road ends, the eventual loss of love
VI. The Night
You've never seen a king in a war
You've never seen a god on a throne
The diamond gates, open and collapse
Into sequence, close and relapse
Like a dozen lives lived, with no chance
It's funny - thoughts and the devil look the same by a dance
And friendliness and indifference is forever similar
Learned how to read false grins, the mirror became familiar
VII. Interlude [Forever Lost]
Kill my wakefulness
In holy water and church shoes
Impatient, I can't lose
An altar and a foul tongue
A call that becomes undone
Created up from the dirt
To curse, murder and flirt
Over starry nights- over starry nights
VIII. The Morning
Dreams are the best part of the day
They're immortal - they're perfect
The first of many wakes, death is my only legacy
When I'm remembered for every twisted tendency
With a smile on worn, tired lips
A heart that sank with the sinking ship
The morning, the mourning, the warring, the warning
When you live for a dream, every last day is burning
IX. To All Eventuality
Life's the most gorgeous withered rose
The garden of death, where it always snows
In the shade of the highs and lows, it's perfection
To grace amongst the stars in the sky, an election
Of time and nature, of love and hate
Of jealously and entropy and every piece of fate
I see the stars in the shattered glass from my mirror
The specter that stays, to all eventuality
X. Tied Knots & Lost Shoe Strings
The clock ticked away each numbered second
If noticed, it would sting, but though a gaze came, never a second
Passed- back to the fall, when it felt well
Or at least the sorrows felt easier to ignore
When everyone else was rejuvenated; before
The days of sleepless shifting and all loose hell
In a mind's prison, never to see the days of blood and flesh
A silenced, soundless, ringing result- never would mesh
But at least even when it's cold, it's easy to wear a smile
Assumptions that a smile on the sleeve is a heart
Or at least a heart made of stained glass.
There's a certain art in making people believe you're alright
But it's harder to make people care about things they don't understand
Labelled suffering in silence, I'd rather call it being given the hand
An imperfect match means a match to imperfections
Or so the story goes, I never quite believed it
Because perfection's a fairy tale, and I never quite achieved it
XI. Resurrection [reflective/glory]
I'll bite, scattered in the wind
When the dust hits the fan - you'll be gone
Like every ash-covered card I've drawn
Hit the ignition, I have sinned
I clutch the shell safe, but I'm not sure
If I can even resist any more
So when I find myself slipping to the gates
I can only pray I wait
XII. The Worst Day
The worst day is when you notice, you aren't even special
Never considered, the greatest trick of a devil
Is to perfectly disguise everyone else as him
And hide within you, the only place you won't look
Don't listen to the things I say
Who am I to talk, I cannot save the day
I cannot guide broken hearts
I cannot care much, it's all a farce
Labelled the broken and the battered
The sundered but not parted
Heartbreakingly perfect;
A world shattered
XIII. Chaos and Empathy
Chaos and empathy
A toast to what is left of me
I could've built a bridge today
I could've set a bridge ablaze
A sieged and a shattered day
The loves, they all fall away
I could've built a bridge today
I could've set a bridge ablaze
This life is like an endless maze
They all fall for every separate craze
I could've built a bridge today
I could've set a bridge ablaze
The tears now soak the eyes, a glaze
Of all the little selfish prays for praise
I could've built a bridge today
I could've set a bridge ablaze
XIV. Never To Be Remembered [AKA The Red Light]
Little rotten secrets that set up alibis
Lives ending in white lies
A modern shop, tale of the uncoiling cot
Hands over head, praying, god- fail me not
Found the pleasures of the flesh to be oddly alluring
Amongst every pain enduring, it was almost reassuring
Love found in lust, dancing tongues over a letter of rust
Burned the most important bridges, hands that now fidget
Along the frigid, ring-scarred digit
La petite mort made her the living dead
Tears pouring, alone, like every word miss-said
Guilt and doubt leads to bottles, a twisted Jack & Jill
A savior from the darkness, seeing daffodils
A false promise - same start, same end, same august
Strength found with the vulnerable - better away
Eyes seeking, trying to find the words - would you stay?
Convincing, but worn too many times
In a dance of could've been and fine lines
Already lost a religion a long time ago
Faith is temptation but it's weak, the only thing I know
I'm never to be remembered, and so are you
XV. The City (2) [AKA The Inside]
Horror-slathered sunshine, the story always told
Live in the city filled with cold, where a heartbeat is bold
With salesmen of souls, with matching stockings and hearts of coal
Takes a toll, but worth it for the pleasure of being next to goal
Next to go, next to fall when it all goes through
Maybe the best, maybe best not to know
Forget the aftermath, just bachelors and grooms
Skies filled with smog, exhaled the fumes
Misery, oh misery, the lips and hand that visit me
Back when all of this was history, now just broken chivalry
Memories, oh memories, lay through gates of apathy
Old thoughts that atrophy in the pursuit of alchemy
Youth, oh youth, the dance and the dagger
The great night that all falls apart the morning after
Love, oh love, the forgotten daughter of dark
A match to be found, just wish against a spark
