Wilderun
Sleep at the Edge of the Earth
1. Dust and Crooked Thoughts
2. And So Opens the Earth (Ash Memory Part I)
After years of hiding in the dark
A sound is heard and the shadow is pulled apart
Just a whisper, just a fading song
A prey to capture before its voice is gone
I've scorched this land with the blood of my past
So nothing left breathing is ever able to last
I will drop all the riches I hold
To seek the candle that lights in the winter's cold
From the woods you crawled a life ago
Here you swore you'd stay
The mountain pass is marked with the very same stone
But the leaves have fallen, the trail is overgrown
I will forge ahead with the strength that I steal
From a false remembrance, from a time that wasn't real
Look back home before you go
It will soon be lost
And only when the last memory has burned
Will I believe a lesson has been learned
In the ashes I'll trace a map to guide me far
Not knowing that life still flows
Its soul becomes a scar
And if we stand
Choice laughs in our face
So we will go
And trust that something's changed
So the last wound mends
So the earth opens
3. Hope and Shadow (Ash Memory Part II)
As I venture where the sound has led
I rest my bones on the frosty earthen bed
It numbs my eyes so I won't have to know
I've not the strength to survive where you go
But a shell still floats upon the wind
When you breath my name
Please look beyond me
As you hang underneath
4. Bite the Wound (Ash Memory Part III)
For one moment I lower to the dusty earth
And find the graves were dug while I looked to the sky
But I will fill them back up with the wine I fed your soul
I'd rather see you dead than watch you unfold
Clench the wound to seal it shut
Just bite the wound, it'll be enough
But the one road that leads out of the woods
Is watched by many birds
They'll never let me hide
From the shame of the truth
That water tastes like the stale air
And the grass is a bed of nails
So I'll drink the dirt and forget
My journey's doomed to fail
It's always doomed to fail
I'm forever doomed to fail
Clench the wound to seal it shut
Just bite the wound, it'll be enough
A dying beast crawls beside my feet
Begging for the end, for one last final sleep
But I can only stare and watch it suffer
Truth lies in the sharp edge of my blade
But if I strike, the image of the savior fades
And your memory of me becomes a name
I will accept your pain
As long as I cannot claim it for my own
I'm much too weak to suck the poison from your blood
I'll let it spill into the cup we both drink from
So I follow hope and shadow
Deeper and deeper into the forest
Letting any doubt be cleansed by darkness
5. The Faintest Echo (Ash Memory Part IV)
Before we go on, take a breath of air
The stench of death is something we'll have to bear
In a time of despair we take what we can
The faintest echo, a craven's quivering hand
The faintest echo, a coward's only friend
A hopeless journey I'll follow until the end
6. The Garden of Fire
Countless years have come and gone
And still we dig
Into the ocean's skin for fire
Skies collapse with ease
And still we fly
Cloaked by our united disguise
See what I see
Harness your need
Fear what I fear
As you near
Stairs of trust descend
For far too long
Into the wild's heart, its mire
Survival takes control
We lose our will
Want contorts to need
As we feel death's chill
I'll cry your name if you aim the arrow
If your wrath unveils
But I'll retreat if light shows your essence
If your ire fails
There's no escape from this cave of liars
When they all feast inside my eyes
Instead of tearing bard from dead oak
I rip flesh from bone
I could've drained the blood from our dreams
But I take my own
So if I paint the scene of a man truly lost
In a spiraling web
Will you forget that my hand only grasped
One single thread?
If you reach deep into the ground
You will find the deceiver's crown unbound
Drowning in the sea of dust and crooked thoughts
You finally learn that it was not you for whom I fought
A reflection lives inside your gentle heart
Seek its gaze and watch as you pull yourself part
We've reached the cusp of land and sea
And I feel the world pour over me
So I'll take the road to the stars
And forget why I trekked so far
Deep in the sea of my twisted ways
You finally see my words set ablaze
Burn every plea, burn through me
I could live forever
I could dream forever
In the garden of fire
I've grown so tired
But I could fight forever
And battle any weather
In the garden of fire
For now we will surrender to the fading sun
We'll wake and we will find intention and action are one
So don't despair if you can't find your mind
For tonight we drink together from the goblet of time
7. Linger
Take the fire
And bend it into the shape of a child
And let him sing
What you've been trying to say for a while
That there's nothing left
No bodies to catch the heat of the flame
There's nothing left
And every word that's thrown becomes the same
We made hammers
To cave in the walls we chose to build
I'll grasp them both
Maybe you can honor the bearer of guilt
But instead
The white flag smothers the boy
And shelters the lie
You were only saved
Cause you could not be destroyed
One last time I'll
Try to tame the beast without breaking skin
But no solution
Seems to ever let me in
If I go on, I'll hold on
With the weakest grip I can
But neither warriors, nor humble words
Can linger in this land
8. The Means to Preserve
There is a light at the edge of the sea
That keeps on beckoning me
The glow is not hard to miss
When washed up against the abyss
In the darkness it waits
For man to unseal its gate
Only the eyes are to blame
For what's read by a candle's flame
I swear that I'll take the grey skies in stride
Just please keep the black from my side
Blood of a shadow's heart
Can never flow in the dark
Close your eyes and you'll
Always stay here
Nothing to hide from or fear
So bring me the shield, not the sword
But bring me nothing I've adored
Just bring me the means to preserve one body
And I will ask for nothing more
Await no fate
Too late, too late
So bring me the shield, not the sword
Bring me a coward's last reward
Cause if you grant me the power to fight this battle
I will keep begging you for more
We have harnessed the idea in our minds
That the sky beyond the wood must be divine
But wherever we tread our roots shall be planted
And the tress will grow in little time
Stars of the frozen night
Don't guide my way, don't aid in my plight
Let me for once adjust my eyes
And let the days roll by
Hide while you can
They will see you
Those with the wounds in their flesh
They'll say "Hope is worth the mess"
Don't make a sound
They will hear you
And bring down the fire from above
That cruel flame, they'll light it
And they'll call it love
Maybe you'll find the strength after all
Maybe we're not destined for the fall
But all I ever saw
Deep in the mirror of your eyes
Was a candle lit just to fight the cold
And a child born to forget the old
But I swore to you I wouldn't live that way
Let the pieces fall where they may
Light at the edge of the sea
Has taken control of me
I grasp for all that I wish
As it hovers above the abyss
I know now that I'll never be void
Of desire until I've destroyed
Both the compass and the map
So there will be no way to turn back
To places where freedom prevails
Where even darkness can fail
I've come to see that I don't want that choice
Take all I have, take my voice
Sleep at the edge of the earth
Far from the spring of life's
Rebirth
After the years spent in here
I'm still not in the clear
The realization draws near
That all we will ever know is fear
9. Sleep at the Edge of the Earth
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