Lend me the eyes of millennia
Align the rapid glimpse of lives in frames
Like fading photographs in ashes
In desperate seconds, closed in by the flames

Let me walk into their cities
When dust and sand has covered every trace
If love, of pain and liberty
A veil of ash and night across its face

I would cast a shadows over beacons
To see disoriented swarms disperse
Like rays of hope into the night
The rise of civilizations in reverse

And as ghosts among the living
Like echoes of a fading song
We could run across the battlefields
On blood-stained road to freedom

Lend me the eyes of millennia
Align the rapid glimpse of lives in frames
Like fading photographs in ashes
In desperate seconds, closed in by the flames

Let me walk into their cities
When dust and sand has covered every trace
If love, of pain and liberty
				

There was always a presence
In the tantalizing shadows of your dreams
An enigmatic whisper
Resonating though your very being

And now you have come too far
The paths you followed here are gone
This is the black, this is the night
This is your dawn

It was always a part of you
Like a seed, a destiny in your blood
From which there was no escape
The unconditional absence of god
There is no return

It's too late
The eyes of the abyss already deep inside
You stayed too long and now you leave but nothing changes

It is far too late
The dreams will bleed into your waking hours
And now you belong
To something that is yours and yours alone

No return
{solo: Fredrik Aakesson}
				

Gently lay my head against the wall and listen
For the footsteps, outside, to fade out and disappear
Hold my breath, a pause suspended dust in silence
Exhale, relief, that's one less enemy
Or a saviour lost

I threw my eyes
So far into the void
A wager for the blind
I threw my eyes
So far into the void
Hours after hours

Waiting for the emptiness
To cultivate the night
The emptiness
Will soon deliver, soon deliver
Emptiness
A serenade to revelation
Emptiness will soon deliver me

Softly run my hands across the ground beneath me
Any trace of fabricated pride is washed away
Turn my faceless head against the raining skies
The dignity and power of this solitude
I am here to stay
				

Half awake, deprived of sleep and dignity
I stand before the blinding lights
My body trembling, survival instincts gasp for air
Rays of madness tear the nights in me

Torn from the slumber, like a drunken king
To watch the cities burn
The world I used to see, no longer a part of me
In bleak reflections, stripped of my humanity

Yet I have all to gain
-the slate is clean
And all the "why's" I need
-the stakes are high
The wheels of fate have turned
-the chariot awaits
And I will set the course
-on paths of tribulation

A refugee of reason
In a world of disbelief
Outnumbered by the thousands
Empowered by the ones I seek

Yet I have all to gain
-the slate is clean
And all the "why's" I need
-the stakes are high
The wheels of fate have turned
-the chariot awaits
And I will set the course
-on paths of tribulation
				

A tranquil silence echoes through the blackness
Stumbling away each step a fall
Into another void the ever endless
Fluctuating centre of it all

I've seen you here before I couldn't reach you
We spoke the truth with bleeding, cut out tongues
And turned our backs to all the roads we ever knew
In this maze where you are lost
And I belong

A gallery of aeons lie in pieces
Spread like ashes over Babylon
Where the quest of orphan martyrs ceases
When they find the gods they loved are gone

I've seen you here before I couldn't reach you
We spoke the truth with bleeding, cut out tongues
And turned our backs to all we ever knew
In this maze where you are lost
And I belong
				

The room fell still, submerged by time
The chatter drowned in liquid hours
If ever words were obsolete
The vibrant air would speak

There is conduct
Like honour among thieves

There is grace
Within the fearful eyes of those who seek
And we know
We know so well the endgame of our presence
Instinctively we throw ourselves
Into these rites of passage

The paths to where we might belong
Are riddles in a long forgotten tongue
And these sentiments we share...
Unspoken violence suspended in the air

This is how our eyes could never meet
Strangers by a monument of hope
In silent hours, you have known my name
But none of us could ever be the same

I could cut you open with a word
Let your blood run down into the soil
If only for a moment to be free
Complete with me
In rites of passage
				

Shadows seep through the pores
Of a rain worn, marble statue
And drain the fading colours
From the depths of my eyes

To see, and feel this frozen river
That is tears and blood and fate
Washing over me, like a cleansing fire
Washing over me, like it was mine

And in this raging storm
Where reveries take form
To see the outlines of a destiny unfold
The sleeping giants rise
Like bodies trapped in ice
Their gaze transfixed on the horizon

Like a cleansing fire
Washing over me
Like it was mine
Beneath the words
Below the lies
Deep within the blackened halls
Of weaknesses and cries
To glimpse the contours
Of a long-forgotten jewel
Place the chisel, lift the hammer high
				

Spread out clean sheets
Get the mind ready for the deep sleep
Fade out the cold lights
Still, these linens feel like concrete

Drifting though closed eyes
Watching incapacities materialize
Like in the song, a prisoner
Of my own device

Another part of me could have been the unleashed
What would it be, how would it feel
If the ideals of self were real?
Is it a cure, or is it disease?
Would i know emptiness from peace?
Tracing the fears back to the start
Raptures to tear the world apart
Written in scars that never heal
This is the deal
This is the deal

Wake up like an undead
Ashes of the night swirling though my head
Breathless, heartless
Ravenous
RAVENOUS
				

Inside a dreamer's palace
So desolate and vast
Amidst the solemn pinacles
And shadows of a past

You lie awake to find
The somber evening hours fade
Away like childhood memories
Your mind withdrawn to shade

The night on the horizon
Has whispered in your ear
You came for consolation
You won't find it here

The night on the horizon
Has whispered in your ear
You came for consolation
You won't find it here

Hope and disillusion
Have sunk in mires of doubt
Along with scraps of triumph
You could have left without

A fool for loss and tragedy
The muses senseless kiss
For which you blindly sought out
All the pearls of the abyss
				

Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were-I have not seen
As others saw-I could not bring
My passions from a common spring-
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow-I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone-
And all I lov'd-I lov'd alone-
Then-in my childhood-in the dawn
Of a most stormy life-was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still-
From the torrent, or the fountain-
From the red cliff of the mountain-
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold-
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by-
From the thunder, and the storm-
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view-