various positions - silver walks

Been counting raindrops since the day the lie parade began

Think I turned cold from its embrace

When you’ve been trapped inside the palace of the rich man

The only place to spit is in his face

I found the way to clear the fog

This lock without a key

Time to rewrite the epilogue

What I was meant to be

I’m gonna find a way through, as if I got a choice

If I had someone else’s body, someone else’s voice

I’m gonna find a way through so this won’t end where it began

I’m standing in the marketplace, searching for an honest man

“I can tell that you’re not from here,” was the thing she said

“‘Cause you’ve still got a fire inside”

All of the pastel Pharisees that come to break their bread

To mask the rot the spray-tans hide

I found the way to clear the fog

Light the fire inside of me

Look backwards and call me a dog

And a dog is what I’ll be

I’m gonna find a way through, as if I got a choice

If I had someone else’s body, someone else’s voice

I’m gonna find a way through so this won’t end where it began

I’m standing in the marketplace, searching for an honest man

Call me a dog

It’s time to light the lantern

Call me a dog

It’s time to light the lantern

It’s time to…

wear the mask

such a burdensome task

never ask why you gasp for air

turn the page

backward to that golden age

heard of but wasn’t really there

the new stupid has the same old groove

create a movement that cannot be moved

and what is true to the naked eye

anything we need to nullify

rare earth ruins common clay

making monsters of the everyday

I am blind, yeah

but you look like a good joe to my eye

I am blind, yeah

but you look like a good joe

as far as I can see

seen through the eyes of Caligula

through the night

watch their torches come alight

heartbeat loud, quiet as the void

wicked hands

washed in blood and soil demands

hide from view unity destroyed

natural selection has a bitter taste

define a righteous life by what it wastes

and what is true to the naked eye

anything we need to nullify

rare earth ruins common clay

tyranny within the everyday

I am blind, yeah

but you look like a good joe

I am blind, yeah

but you look like a good joe

as far as I can see

seen through the eyes of Caligula

(eyes) if you could only see what I’ve

seen with your eyes…

I only say what you said to me

I only see what I want to see

I deny your humanity

I deny your reality

my pain is all that matters

reason tatters years ago

I will smile while your world shatters

you, my friend, will never want to go

I won’t lie

we don’t care about it

we don’t mind so long as we don’t have to

hear about it

paint a pretty fiction while the planet burns

stick our heads in the sand ‘cuz we never learn

I won’t lie

we don’t care enough to undo the facade

we’re the chosen of God

hear no speak no evil

bleed that mantra dry

we don’t see no evil, we don’t try

hear no speak no evil

that’s the alibi

we don’t see no evil, we don’t try

we’re the chosen of God

we don’t see what we won’t alter

the wisdom of our forebears will never falter

come on to me with a rotten tooth smile

something like confidence, maybe denial

he say

hey miss california

shift an eye to sense the leaning

lose the word but keep the meaning

your welcome here’s one you can trust

so long as you live your whole life like us

you’re some queer or communist,

ain’t you, miss california?

your hippy bullshit’s gonna bring

us all to doom

you’re some queer or communist, ain’t cha?

go back to California

let the silence fill the room

as all your ugly flowers start to bloom

sirens wail within their concrete choir

shadows drape the city street

like holy robes donned for an offering

of youthful blood to old concrete

you willed the winter to the windowpane

you nailed your culture to the wall

a flag of liberty has come aflame

the ashes glisten as they fall

searchlight on the horizon,

light the warning hung by my heart

black tide we ever rise in,

like the warning hung by my heart.

searchlight on the horizon,

light the warning hung by my heart

let all you despise in,

like the warning hung by my heart.

Witness confusion in their faces now,

Witness rage and disbelief,

Witness denial, that tiny trial that all the liars take

To cut the guilt off from the grief,

You willed the winter to the windowpane,

You nailed your culture to the wall,

A flag of liberty has come aflame,

The ashes glisten as they fall….

Flip the page on the calendar and count the days

time’s hand takes a curious stand

on mice and men and summer’s haze

everyone’s gone to where they think their place is

to find the deluge come at various paces

& water is death in all my songs

it was the day that you had asked me

if I could write again

let drip some mercurial quip

that would find that ink returned to pen

I couldn’t find the words to tell that story

the map had never shown the territory

Can’t find the way back to where or when

“all god’s children run to yesterday,

hold that close inside you when it’s raining sideways.

light the torch so we can find a way

It will warm us when our vicious autumn comes to call”

the city is filled with undimensional things

kabuki girls and shadowplay boys

dance on Punch-and-Judy strings

the office block windows form random patterns

one way mirror eyes

I need the fix of oblivion to come

I need the night

And the shadows are alive

With grinning familiars of fate

Factories of coincidence hum

Manufacture my mistake

Translating Rosetta stones of need

Enigma codes of pain

I’ll show you dark horizons we once knew

We will begin again

And the rain came down to haunt us

All the color washed away

The mystery unfolded

The contradictions weighed

And I always knew that you would

Turn upon yourself one day

In consequence

You turned away

I found my old pen

Didn’t know where or when

I seemed out of my head

The last word was my end

All in all, it made no sense

Wasn’t well, such a mess

Scared to see how close I came

Never want to be that dark again

I silence the dark (x4)

lost, torn

I became your prey

blind lust

like moth to the flame

pulled down

this dark hole

where nightmares

take hold

trapped here

inside

nowhere left

to hide

stone cold

you’re blind

to what you’ve done to me

no end

in sight

to what you’ve done to me

I won’t let you

tear me down

again

I won’t let you

tear me down

again

in the darkness of the night

I won’t fear you

I finally

see the light

I won’t fear you

sweet dreams

have faded away

time nears

to plan my escape

trapped in

this silent cage

I steal the key

from your rage

I’ll take

what you stole

to piece back

my soul

no more

cruel lies

what you’ve done to me

control

denied

what you’ve done to me

I won’t let you

tear me down

again

I won’t let you

tear me down

again

in the darkness of the night

I won’t fear you

I finally

see the light

I won’t fear you

In the darkness of the night

I won’t fear you

never more

I will survive

what you’ve done to me