As the Dark Against My Halo

*

And I believe

The world is forever changing, evolving, and growing
Everything we know
Everything we love
Everything we believe in
Will change
Living is changing
Momentarily, everything will be re-imagined

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Begin

The shattered heart
Inside of me
Rising from
The deepest dream
Spoken thoughts
That plant the seed
I hear her voice

And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe
And I believe

The lovers’ kiss
Is born to be
Perfection to eternity
Life allows
And all will be
I hear the truth

And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe (and I believe)
And I believe
And I believe
And I believe

*

Valkyrie

The definition of truth
Is lost in the telling
Objectively cold
To an unwilling tide
So who are you now?
Were you wounded by living?
Have you buried perspective
Screaming inside?

I see the choosers of the fallen
I see the promises they bind

God knows
That I am fighting still
Each step
Defining who I am
God knows
That Fate is armed with arrows
And she watches the battlefield

And if I fall, give me the strength to rise unbroken
And where I stand
The courage and will to fight
That when I dream
These eyes discern my purpose and believe
That should I die
Self-sacrifice becomes this victory

There’s a fragment of me
In the words I’m giving
A doorway is opened
If you listen too long
So who have you dreamed
With the power of being?
Do you like who you are?
Do you like what you’ve done?

Valkyrie!

God knows
That I am fighting still
Each step
Defining who I am
God knows
That Fate is armed with arrows
And she watches the battlefield

And if I fall, give me the strength to rise unbroken
My Valkyrie!
And where I stand
The courage and will to fight
My Valkyrie!
That when I dream
These eyes discern my purpose and believe
That should I die
The sacrifice becomes my Valkyrie

(My Valkyrie!)
(My Valkyrie!)
(My Valkyrie!)

Valkyrie!

God knows
That I am fighting still
Each step
Defining who I am
God knows
That Fate is armed with arrows
And she watches the battlefield

And if I fall, the strength to rise unbroken
My Valkyrie!
And where I stand
The courage and will to fight
My Valkyrie!
And when I dream
These eyes discern my purpose and believe
That should I die
Self-sacrifice becomes this victory

*

Halo

A broken prayer for inspiration
God be with me on this day
So much fear I try to hide it
But now I’m not afraid

When all is lost
And hope a ghost
There’s nowhere left to turn
Release the light
A nova bright
Below the halo burns

We won’t sit down
We won’t shut up
We won’t go quietly away
We won’t accept
We won’t pretend
That we are less than fearless
The truth will find the deepest mark
No matter who you think you are
As the dark against my halo
No uncertainty
A ring of light still burning in me

I face the crowd, the curtains down
I see the jackals all around
I know they came here to watch me fall
The end will come (but not today)

When all is lost
And hope a ghost
There’s nowhere left to turn
Release the light
A nova bright
Below the halo burns

We won’t give up
We won’t give in
We won’t be taken down this way
We won’t accept
We won’t pretend
That we are less than fearless
The truth will find the deepest mark
No matter who you think you are
As the dark against my halo
No uncertainty
A ring of lights dividing in me

(I see my halo)
(We are…)
I see my halo
(We are…)

*

Burning

(Shimmering, shimmering, shimmering
Shimmering, shimmering, shimmering)

Shimmering cold
See our beloved dream
Waking helpless
As trust gives way to shame
While you were out they sold our sovereignty
And canceled our tomorrows just to justify the change

And you don’t have to close your eyes to see
The darkness all around
You don’t have to close your eyes to feel
The world turned upside down

In every dream I’ve ever dreamt
I burn for you
In every promise that I kept
I burn for you
With every word I’ve ever said
I burn for you
Until there’s nothing left
I burn for you

The beacon ignited
A halo in the dark
You wander forgotten
But I know who you are
And nothing else matters if you only hear these words
I still believe in you

And you don’t have to close your eyes to see
The darkness all around
You don’t have to close your eyes to feel
The world turned upside down

In every dream I’ve ever dreamt
I burn for you
In every promise that I kept
I burn for you
With every word I’ve ever said
I burn for you
Until there’s nothing left
I burn for you

The fury confines
The program becomes
The fear it created cannot be undone
The singular real
In choices you make
The conflicted purpose directing the fate

In every dream I’ve ever dreamt
I burn for you
In every promise that I kept
I burn for you
With every word I’ve ever said
I burn for you
Until there’s nothing left
I burn for you

All that we dream
Gives purpose to reality
Mathematics underneath the gears of deity
All I perceive
Existing in uncertainty
My life becomes the energy
To fuel these burning wings

In every dream I’ve ever dreamt
I burn for you
In every promise that I kept
I burn for you
With every word I’ve ever said
I burn for you
Until there’s nothing left
I burn for you

*

Sleepless

La la-la la la la-la-la
La la-la la la la-la-la
La la-la la la la-la-la
La la-la la la la-la-la

A secret action to create
Like children sing my dreams awake
So little light
Becomes the sun

Without remorse, the wicked gain
The line uncrossed does not remain
But what I give
They will not take away

We are the light
Out in the cold
We are the dreams that keep you up at night
We are the noise
Out of control
That won’t let you rest when you’re sleepless
We are the light
Out in the cold
We are the dreams that keep you up at night
We are the noise
Out of control
That won’t let you rest when you’re sleepless

La la-la la la la-la-la
La la-la la la la-la-la
La la-la la la la
La la-la la la la

Our perception doesn’t bend
As poetry whose words within survive
A vision carried on

Seize the silence, fears collapse
And generate the questions asked
Ideas like bullets
Infect the mind with thought

La la-la la la la
La la-la la la la

You change the way
Tomorrow sees the world

We are the noise!
We are the sun
We are your dreams
We are the noise!
We are the sun
We are your dreams
We are the noise!

We are the light
Out in the cold
We are the dreams that keep you up at night
(We are the noise!)
We are the noise
(We are the sun)
Out of control
(We are your dreams)
That won’t let you rest when you’re sleepless
We are the noise!

*

Quicksilver

I should be ashamed for what you’ve done to me
It’s only happened because I let it be
But no more

You are not wrong, you who believe
Your will defines your destiny
But if you act in selfish fear
Then truth means nothing

You are not wrong if you perceive
The message veiled in mystery
But if we bury what we dream
We’re left with what remains

There is no vision that we surrender
Breathless time can take no prisoners
My avatar, I call you to return
And the cycle is fulfilled

I’m taking back my love, taking back my pride
Taking back my dreams and my life
This is the ground I will defend
On rage of angels bears the end

I’m taking back my hope, taking back my goals
Taking back my memories and my soul
This brand is forged to my crusade
Quicksilver, the future belongs to the brave

(The future belongs to the brave…)

You are not wrong if you believe
Perception works its alchemy
And I become the phoenix once again
Transforming destiny

We brace before the fates descending
With resolution never ending
As Nike stands, her shield before me
Sophia guide my hand

There is no wisdom that we surrender
Breathless time can take no prisoners
My avatar, I call you to return
The cycle is fulfilled

I’m taking back my love, taking back my pride
Taking back my dreams and my life
This is the ground I will defend
On rage of angels comes again

I’m taking back my hope, taking back my goals
Taking back my memories and my soul
This sword is forged to my crusade
Quicksilver, the future belongs to the brave

(Quicksilver…)

I feel the wishfire burning cold
Black wings to fill the sky unfold
And nothing takes from God his storm
See the angels’ eyes transform

I’m taking back my love, taking back my pride
Taking back my dreams and my life
This is the ground I will defend
On rage of angels bears the end

I’m taking back my hope, taking back my goals
Taking back my memories and my soul
This brand is forged to my crusade
Quicksilver, the future belongs to the brave

I’m taking back my love, taking back my pride
Taking back my dreams and my life
This is the ground I will defend
On rage of angels bears the end

I’m taking back my hope, taking back my goals
Taking back my memories and my soul
This brand is forged to my crusade
Quicksilver, the future belongs to the brave

*

Infinite Tear

She whispers her apologies
Her eyes shining stars in the sky
Then turning like mist, she’s gone again
I don’t understand why

And now that it’s broken and the last facade is burned
How do I find my balance when the Earth won’t turn?

You can try to deny it
What a dreamer like me might feel
You can say it’s all in my head
But I know that it’s real

And now that it’s broken and the last facade is burned
How do I find my balance when the Earth won’t turn
(The Earth won’t turn…)

I don’t remember the words that we said
All I can focus on is the infinite tear that divides us now instead
I don’t remember the words that we said
All I can think about is the infinite tear that divides us here instead
I don’t remember the words that we said
All I can think about is the infinite tear that divides us here instead

*

Indivisible

Cold, unmoving
Frozen in place
Is this the way the future falls?
Still breathing, still thinking
Perspective displaced
It’s just like feeling nothing at all

And scratching the surface, I’m digging to see
If there’s anything behind these eyes
A concept to guide us, each day we decide
Do we stay and fight
For what we know is right?

There’s a calling, the angels
Hanging lights in the sky
Take a hard look around you
Become a hero inside

You’re not alone
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
(You’re not alone)
You’re not alone in this
And I will always be with you
You’re not alone
(You’re not alone)
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
(You’re not alone)
You’re not alone, my love
We are united, indivisible

And call it courage, overcoming the fear
To conquer first the demons inside
That when the madness descends on our dreams
We have the strength to keep them alive

The purpose of one becomes the purpose of all
A phalanx made from what we believe
A ghost or an angel, a wish or a prayer
Just open your eyes, your heart, your mind
And breathe

There’s a calling, the angels
Hanging lights in the sky
Take a hard look around you
Become a hero inside

(Not alone)
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)
Not alone
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)

Not alone
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)
Not alone
(I walk through the valley in the shadow of death)
(And I don’t fear)

I walk through the valley in the shadow of death
(You’re not alone)
I walk through the valley in the shadow of death
(You’re not alone)
I walk through the valley in the shadow of death
(You’re not alone)
But I don’t fear!
You’re not alone

There’s a calling, the angels
Hanging lights in the sky
Take a hard look around you
Become a hero inside

You’re not alone
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
You’re not alone in this
And I will always be with you
You’re not alone
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
You’re not alone, my love
We are united, indivisible
You’re not alone
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
You’re not alone in this
And I will always be with you
You’re not alone
Together we’re unstoppable, unbeatable
You’re not alone, my love
We are united, indivisible

*

Porcelain

How fragile it resonates against my shoulder
Fragments of ourselves we reconceive
Perfection’s kiss I see so clearly now
Shimmering her eyes, like porcelain

And what do I need to do to hold this feeling
Like magic that repairs a broken heart
Tell me, what do I need to do to keep this moment
Vulnerable and pale, she stole my heart

And everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single breath for granted
Everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single second with you for granted

Yesterday I looked beneath the madness
And here today I find you in my arms

What do I need to do to hold this feeling
Like magic that repairs a broken heart
Tell me, what do I need to do to keep this moment
Shivering and pale, she claimed my heart

And everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single breath for granted
Everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single second with you for granted

She watches with her eyes in distant wonder
A world of possibilities within
Wanting that part of happiness surrounding her
Delicate she smiles, my porcelain

What do I need to do to hold this feeling
Like magic that repairs a broken heart
Tell me, what do I need to do to keep this moment
Shivering and pale, she claimed my heart

And everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single breath for granted
And everything I do in the end I’ll give to you
I won’t take a single second with you for granted

*

Angelus Everlasting

Dum vita est spes est
Deo volente
Dum vita est spes est
Deo volente

So why does it happen
It disintegrates with time
Thermodynamics is
Tragically defined
With entropy’s arrow
The elegance concealed
Life and experience
Becoming
So much less than real

In love everlasting
Hold tightly to the spark
Though the darkness surrounds you
Remember who you are
I’ve found it here always
And I hope you’ll find it too
In love everlasting
The angels will bring it back to you

A song of perception
To navigate your way
Hold precious each moment
Before it slips away
No concessions to sorrow
There’s power in your dreams
Your life is a gift filled
With infinite
Possibilities

In love everlasting
A sentience in the spark
In the end all that matters
Follows who you are
I’ve found it here always
And I hope you’ll find it too
In love everlasting
The angels are calling back to you

Both in science and history
We express what we know
But it’s a guess, I confess
Educated at best
And the truth is tomorrow
You must first undergo
You cannot claim godhood
To know the unknown
In yourself a definition that no other can see
Right and wrong are separated by a few degrees
So your knowledge is strength
But it’s not absolute
You must open your mind
To the beautiful truth

In love everlasting
Hold tightly to the spark
Though the darkness falls all around you
Remember who you are
I’ve found it here always
And I hope you’ll find it too
In love everlasting
The angels will bring this back to you

In love everlasting
A sentience in the spark
In the end all that matters
Believes in who you are
I’ve found it here always
And I hope you know it’s true
In love everlasting
The angels are singing back to you

*

Sentinel

It flashes before my eyes like a neon sign (a neon sign)
Visions of everything in life that could ever be
And every word rips inward back through time (back through time)
Reflections living still
A burrow of possibility

Calling back for reinforcements
But no one arrives (arrives)
No retreat from the finite waging
Forward forever (forever)
I’m alive

And it feels like so much
Always hanging over me
The weight of the world descending
As I struggle underneath
And it feels like so much
Always hanging over me
I just need to know
That I’m not down here alone

And on this hill I’ll make my stand
For the hour is close at hand
This is the moment, this is the time
And with each heartbeat lives a chance
But the hour so close at hand
Defines in a moment a purpose to life

I am the sentinel (the sentinel)
I am the sentinel

Each action carried out lives on for an eternity (eternity)
It ripples across a pool of scattered light
Where every choice is cloaked in moments of uncertainty (uncertainty)
If you look within you’ll see the monsters hiding deep inside your own life

And on this hill I’ll make my stand
For the hour is close at hand
This is the moment, this is the time
(In silence stands the sentinel)
And with each heartbeat lives a chance
But the hour so close at hand
Defines in a moment a purpose to life
(In silence stands the sentinel)

*

Matchstick Girl

Silent empty streets
Forsaken to the cold
Moonlit, her shadow, like ink upon the snow
Barefoot, she shivers
With nowhere else to go
“Matches, matches here for sale”

And on this drifting course through time
Beneath the limitless sublime
Her heart beats lonely and afraid
Phantom faces at her side
In their anguish cannot hide
The beauty and the frailty of life

In desperation, she strikes a match
Her fingers burn with fire and ash
Escape the hard, imperfect world
Her eyes light up — the matchstick girl
Perception clashes, voices sing
Like angels from a secret dream
And then, as quickly as it came
It fades into the cold
Back into the cold

The delicate and empty stars
Whisper light without remorse
And every shadow growing brave
To stand below the morn
A vision captures just the smile
And lingers on her lips a while
Before fading into the darkness
A stranger past unknown

And on this drifting course through time
Beneath the limitless sublime
Everyone who ever was will die
(Everybody dies)
After all the moments live
Whether too naive to give
The mercy one must grant, if he should find

In desperation she strikes a match
Fingers ablaze with fire and ash
Escape the hard, imperfect world
Her eyes light up — the matchstick girl
Perception clashes, voices sing
Angels embrace her in their wings
And then as quickly as it came
It fades into the cold

She strikes another, here again
A nova burns, a hero’s flame
Against the hard, imperfect world
Her eyes light up — the matchstick girl
And like the rivers of belief
A storybook, however brief
And then as quickly as it came
It fades into the cold
Back into the cold

Silent prayer, please God protect
The fingers stiffened by neglect
What she remembered, what man forgets
And for her suffering, heaven wept

In desperation she strikes the pack
Fingers alight with fire and ash
Warmth redeems a fading world
Her eyes light up — the matchstick girl
Heaven breaks, and voices sing
Like angels in her secret dreams
And nothing here will ever touch
Nor harm this little girl

And in the alley, looking back
Fingers cold, now stained and black
The warmth departs a fading world
Her eyelids close — the matchstick girl
The line breaks free this cruel space
A knowing smile upon her face
It stayed until the morning light
Frozen in the snow
The matchstick girl was home
The matchstick girl was home

*

Dark Matter

Can you tell me how she closed the Gorgon’s eyes?
Where beauty dispelled, and lust defined
A wounded silence, through anger blind
Your poisoned perspective
You can see the darkness if you filter out the light

(Dark matter, dark matter)
(Dark matter, dark matter)

One life, becoming a monster
One chance—you have to believe in the truth
Your hate, creating Medusa
It’s too much to bear, too much for you
One love, becoming a monster
One chance—you have to believe in the truth
Your hate, creating Medusa
Dead light becoming dark matter in you

Seated now upon a throne of lies
Your serpent crown in chorus cries
Invisible shadows, like stone defined
To welcome Perseus
The morning comes to paint the darkness white

(Dark matter, dark matter)
(Dark matter, dark matter)

(Dark matter, dark matter)
We open up our eyes to see
(Dark matter)
But nothing’s making sense to me
(Dark matter)
The particles between the scenes
(Dark matter)
Fractured relativity
(Dark matter)
Our unobserved reality
(Dark matter)
Where life is perjury (where life is perjury)
(Dark matter)

*

Africanus

Is this the way we let it in
Our legacy erased?
Invaders cut a path within
Devouring everything

And they will if we let them
And they will if we run
What they take from us now
It can’t be undone

I won’t stand down—there’s no surrender
Nowhere left we can retreat
I won’t stand down—there’s no surrender
No surrender, no surrender
You cannot advance if you don’t fight back
And you won’t fight back if you don’t believe
Where peace is laid impossible
Prepare for war to Zama (to Zama)
Follow me

Strength is order and weakness prey
But I alone design my fate
I know too well with schemes transparent
Must resort to trickery
I’ll take the battle back to Carthage
Where triumph fades into defeat
Revenge avenged, and so it carries
Scipio to victory

And they will if we let them
And they will if we run
What they take from us now
It can’t be undone
(Go, go, go)

I won’t stand down—there’s no surrender
Nowhere left we can retreat
I won’t stand down—there’s no surrender
No substitute for tenacity
You cannot advance if you don’t fight back
And you won’t fight back if you don’t believe
Where peace is laid impossible
Prepare for war to Zama (to Zama)
Follow me

This is my purpose, the strength to begin
My channel to courage, I summon it in
This is my gift, the act of my tears
This is my prayer, embracing my fear
This is my family, this is my home
A lifetime believing and all that I know
This is the place I choose to defend
And I’ll defend it, to the end
This is my honor, this is my word
This is the voice you’ve already heard
This is my faith that rises above
This is my everything—I give it to love

And they will if we let them
And they will if we run
What they want from us now
We give to no one