Be'lakor
Of Breath and Bone
1. Abeyance
As the candles yawned,
My world grew darker
'Til barely a detail remained
Parchment and smoke
Through distant chimes
Moths carried by the breeze
Her finger to my lips,
I am stilled in an instant —
I sip, and am numbed
From here the path winds backwards
At first I see my entering
And then steps in reverse
Descent where I had fallen
Familiar, all is skewed
And yet I cannot reflect
Beyond my eyelids, I have died
Yet I collapse into youth
Familiar, all is frayed
And yet I cannot abide
Beyond my eyelids, I have died
Days are merging quickly now,
Into years that spiral from my chest
They pass but leave no mark
I swallow forgotten words
To gain what was lost
And lost what was gained
Until neither is real
Behind my head, her hands hold no weight
I have reached a beginning,
But somehow I do not stop
I fall through the first moment
To find that there is more
As light cascades
Through the hole my body has torn
Already, it is closing
2. Remnants
Embedded in fertile plain
Snared in pulp and stone
Confounded being emerges
Surrounded yet alone
Surging growth in vigour
Morbidity at bay
Hale deceives the advent
Of cycles in decay
Winter's first marrow cracks
Mother bides the spring
Ne'er evade the hand of death
And coursing pain it brings
Matter broken, times expire
Eternity's division
Peer across the fatal pass
Terminus inition
Ills that never truly mend
Breath which seldom draws in ease
Pulses often miss their step
Somatic ever in disease
Embedded in fallow plain
Consumed by pulp and stone
Confounded being expires
Abandoned and alone
3. Fraught
Searching, the abstract colours reason
But I persist to fail in the absence of faith
Cycles bound by throes of attrition
Oft united, yet surely more is lost in time
Beyond fathom, billions firing
Flashes burn and spew prostrate
Wisped monads from crimson puncture
Our bonds are broken, all meaning sundered
Striving for constant reduction
Bursting from the pit beneath
Unyielding yet beyond the grasp
Of scale and form
Nothingness born
Fleetingly
Of sprawl and flame
From nothing it came
Seemingly
The gap between us tears apart
Impel our end
Layers surge and strip away
Cast into nought
Of matter torn
As eons I mourn
Achingly
Of atoms maimed
As epochs are tamed
Blindingly
In that final absence,
We never were
4. Absit Omen
Void has no resistance
As the giant stretches out
A tipping point's expansion
Sets astray a solar doubt
Warmth and glare on every crest
For cells compelled to crave
A pulsing sphere forgets its past
To bask in every wave
Dusk comes later with each day,
And morning sooner turns
As shallow waters search the air,
The driest flower burns
Brighter skies are bathing
Ever crowded slopes in light
In all directions creatures dance
Before their final flight
Blinded at the zenith
To fray the dangling thread
Hum the ocean's fever pitch
To see the flames ahead
Distance loses meaning
As the breath becomes the fire
Gone are fibres; gone are thoughts
...But vapours in the pyre
5. To Stir The Sea
[Instrumental]
6. In Parting
After one but before the next,
In a tree where new life writhed and flexed
Two birds emerged to hold the world
And grow from feeble talons curled
But fate see them part that day
As lightning cut their branch away
By winds to distant places sent
Almost as if it all had meant
That though their bloodied wounds would fade,
They'd wonder where their brother lay
For every day from that day on
They'd wait to hear a certain song
In vain, for years, thought one was strong
And one was not, for far too long
Until his bones and thoughts were old,
And feathers burnt and lost and cold
The stronger of the two could see
A distant bird, how weak was he
In drawing near but knowing not,
Just who he was, or why, or what
the stronger talons tore at flesh
And stripped away that feathered mess
And all without a sound or cry,
Or even ever knowing why
Yet as the sun began to sink
He seemed to sense, he seemed to think
That soon his brother might appear
From somewhere close, from somewhere near
Convinced this was his brother's fate,
Above his corpse, he sat... to wait
7. The Dream And The Waking
Silent but distant,
Real but not seen
Here but not happening,
Forever has been
Into this absence,
Two had but strayed
Retracing in circles,
They surrendered, dismayed
Behind them, darkness
Ahead, the unknown
So they stood, uninvited
...But the roots had grown
An error, a tangent
A curious mind
An instant, a lifetime
A secret to find
The dream and the waking
Occurring together
Realising, then
That it mattered not whether
Imagined movements
Near shimmering webs
The Nightfall descended
To rest by their heads
Their feet planted firmly
'Neath four darting eyes
With pupils dilated,
They counted the sighs
Their legs fading into
A curding moss
Their lungs slowly filling
With decades of loss
That scent form the forest
Not taking, not giving
They knew only this —
Not buried, not living
Their stagnating veins
Now hidden from view
In skin for the willow
And bone for the dew
The dream and the waking
Ending together
Understanding then
It had not mattered, ever
8. By Moon And Star
Fifteen times the leaves had shorn,
Trod by boy and beast
Kith and kin to fare him well
The youngling parted east
The rite was whet and worn with time,
As sons dared risk unseen
Mere passage had convinced the herd
And none defied routine
Eyes, fixed afar - a trial to come
Now, his suffering - only begun
He journeyed deep into the woods,
And took no drink or food
Desperate to become a man,
'Fore stupor choked his mood
Carrion gloated at each step,
In dreams the evil milled
Doubting every sickened thought
Depraved against his will
Eyes, turn inwards - observe with hate
Now, this suffering - will not abate
Growing weakness in his gait
He slumped beneath the sun
Each bleeding foot began to weep
Skin and bone was one
Rousing with a fitful gasp
He crawled on tattered knees
And bound for home by moon and star
His trial was complete
Staggers carried him to town
His joy was soon to shed
Kith and kin would greet him not
For each one was dead
The sixteenth leaves began to fall
Indifferent, they withstood
Now, a man with nothing left
He turned back for the woods
John Richardson ‒ Bass
Jimmy Vanden Broek ‒ Drums
Shaun Sykes ‒ Guitars
George Kosmas ‒ Guitars, Vocals
Steve Merry ‒ Keyboards, Piano
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