Rise up disciple from a far-off land
Time to get under way
Toward wisdom of yore, keep close at hand
Those who teach you how to never go astray
Brooding over for too long, behind
Your bared clenched teeth
For your misfortunes you blame the outside
Inwardly starting to seethe
Deem yourself worthy at last
To improve rather than dwell on the past
For what other master than you
Do you wait for a change of view?
Now is the fight! Just right here!
It can be won using the relevant gear
Pay attention anytime
To all the waves of your mind
Soon we’ll feed the worms
Thus the truth will be fully learned
Daily deeds are truly owned
All the rest merely borrowed
A new daybreak, let’s join them
The festival begins again
Endure all turmoil and noise
Take your share of soothing joys
Left alone with your thoughts
As you close your tired eyes
Escaping at least some faults
Is good enough for the one who tries
Now is the fight! Just right here!
It can be won using the relevant gear
Pay attention anytime
To all the waves of your mind
Always over hill and dale
A wanderer walking in strides
Restlessly hitting the trail
On the dark or the sunny side
Keeping on a steady pace
Without leaving any trace
Used to nature of progress
A lot of well directed steps
Haunting the fields and the woods
Rather than the doors of men
Attending to his own moods
As a wilderness denizen
With a feeling soon renewed
Kind of withered over time
A severed stem far from its roots
Though blooming during his climb
Creeping in, the cold
Invades his inner stronghold
The icy quiver running through his bones
Reminds him suddenly that he was gone
For way too long
Too far, alone
Wherever this one is traveling
Welcomed, expected or despised
By a fireside or a chilling wind
Even-tempered, such is the wise
Not a beggar, to stay when spurned
He can’t be drawn in any strife
And never got his fingers burned
By possessions, such is his life
Good-natured like the stray cat
A sense of gratitude for his beloved independence
When done with society, he’s taking a step back
Just goes off quietly somewhere by himself
Surveyor of human soul
Monarch of lands that lies fallow
Honored of all he must not do against his will
And rich with all that he can afford to drop out of his hands
Most rewards are expensively sold
For attendance, curtsies and praise
Most properties are not worth this pile of gold
Gauged in time, measured in precious days
Growing, the annoyance
Abrades his inner balance
The many frictions disturbing his mind
Weaken his detachment, strengthen his view
To stay aloof
From humankind
Wherever this one is traveling
Welcomed, expected or despised
By a fireside or a chilling wind
Even-tempered, such is the wise
Not a beggar, to stay when spurned
He can’t be drawn in any strife
And never got his fingers burned
By possessions, such is his life
Good-natured like the stray cat
A sense of gratitude for his beloved independence
When done with society, he’s taking a step back
Just goes off quietly somewhere by himself
Now there’s nothing but this blade
All my time left I’ll dedicate
To master the Way of the Sword
I vow to live under its law
I serve virtue, no other lord
Not two, but only one way
Since the day I have reborn
I rely on the Art of War
As a means to train the mind
I must beware of too much pride
And be aware of my weak sides
A high goal is a two-edged sword
Time to fight, no backing down
For I will have no rest until my skill prevails
Disembodied, a whistling sound
The singing of my blade ravages the plain
Back to a state of mindfulness
Crows have a feast of ronin’s flesh
Through weary eyes clouded by blood
I’m sobering up
I feel split and out of tune
My spirit unable to rule
Did I outwardly succeed
To suffer an inner defeat?
Here I am, brittle and tense
Still on guard against myself
At the edge of a breaking down
I need to find a subtle tone
A keen balance to daily hone
Between firmness and leeway to move
Two swords combined
Hostile and bare
One smeared with blood and the other unstained
Two streaks of light
Flashing in the air
Back and forth, like pine needles joined in a cruel carnage
I feel split and out of tune
My spirit unable to rule
Did I outwardly succeed
To suffer an inner defeat?
Winding path to self-control
Brushing up against my goal
The True Way remains unrevealed
How to connect intent and deeds
The tempest blows a dazzling white
The peak vanishes again
Whirling blasts of snow benight
The outcome of my ascent
Grit your teeth, do not flinch
At setbacks that slow you down
Going forth, inch by inch
To keep your feet on the ground
A sudden noise of flapping wings
First sign of the coming swarm
Somber curses were residing
In the eye of the storm
Manic claws tear the sky
Looming above my head
Chthonic calls, bloodshot eyes
Summoning me to them
Desperate crawl through blizzard squalls
Hounded by eerie shapes
A hail of stings ruthlessly falls
Onto my dire escape
The storm birds rush cannot be shunned
There is no way to cope
It’s too much hardships to overcome
I fall and hurtle down the slope
Grim lull while being drowned
As I sink into the ground
Numb and coated by hoar frost
I dread to think that all is lost
The harpy’s laugh
Twisted inhuman face
Utters cries of disgrace
The fury’s torch
Melts the surrounding snow
And clears the path to follow
Swift ravenous fiends
Foul everything that once mattered to me
Plunder the drifting wreck of my mind
I only want to forget and go blind
Sisters born from the Night
Jailers of the insane
Rage is our only light
Let’s put the rest to the flame
Why leaving on this day
A good reason to run away
Starting a crusade on a fraud
On behalf of a paltry cause
Pretending to be the right one
Eager to win the bet
Confident to become
Who we cannot be yet
Drifting away from our home
Tossed back and forth among the woes
Shifting our way to escape
Feeling alien to a chosen fate
Answering riddles in the dark
A dangerous lair to scout
Diving deep for a tiny spark
To find a path through our greatest doubts
Waking on a stranger shore
Exhausted by years of war
Caught unprepared by the swirl
Of the torments of the return
Good fellows to leave behind
Wrong beliefs to cast aside
Thwarting headwinds and evil traps
Left absolutely alone and finally back
Nothing else than a sum
Of appetite and distaste
Kneaded with emotions
But a freewill to embrace
An ethics still to craft
Slumbering or awake
Ever-improving draft
Or degenerated fake
Homecoming at last
Finally found a way
No longer an outcast
Changed and yet the same
There and back again
A narrowing swirl
From the unknown to oneself
An eternal return
Spawn of Earth, heir to the bane
What is worth such suffering and pain?
Land is flayed under foolish dominion
Untold slaves consigned to oblivion
They’re despised while plunged in despair
Hubris claims each day a growing share
Do you feel cut off from this world?
When you weep for countless dying herds
First do no harm
Never be ashamed of having a kind heart
Then rise to height
Take a view from above where the prospect is bright
From the sea of cosmic time and space
All the boundaries wane and the differences fade
A unit within an army
One vessel among many
Walls were built to justify the wrong
But distinction is about to decline
We’re kin of all whose fate is to evolve
The last offsprings of a single bloodline
Can you feel this breeze of anarchy?
While the madness spreads just as the blood runs
The uprising of a new humanity
Breaking old rules and binding new ones
Sink back down
Cleverness is a gift we’re wearing like a crown
Now play your part
Remember adapting is the purpose of being smart
Nothing seems to improve through our tiny lifespan
But history is on move, the quickening began
Behaviours go viral within the web of lives
Some people strive towards better times
Walls were built to justify the wrong
But distinction is about to decline
We’re kin of all whose fate is to evolve
The last offsprings of a single bloodline
If the ruin do fall upon us all
Still remains the choice of our deeds right in the here and now
Walls were built to exploit overmuch
But extinction is at the end of the line
Our misdeeds might backfire on us
For the living is deeply intertwined
Can’t you feel this need for empathy?
While the madness threatens to take it all
If we lay down our old burden of vanity
We’ll regain our place in the whole
Delusion or
Worth my lifetime
How would I deem what I lived for
If I should die?
The toil must be done
Days are passing by
But tomorrow might be the last one
And I shall die
A habit is for us to deny
Spinning a web of silver lies
To hide the many agonies
All around us, for every being
We seem happier reduced by hunger
Flattering ourselves to be starved
Utterly craving for all that lies beyond our grasp
On the path of darkness and desire
A sweet scent of extinguished fire
We’re getting worse, eager to curse
Not the curtain, but what’s behind
Intoxicated within the smell of humankind
Today should be like every remaining day
Definitely all that I ask for
Whatever the moment when I’ll go away
That does not change anything at all
Happiness is complete in the here and now
It will not increase with a longer time
No other place but where I’m sitting down
This one quiet throne that I recognize as mine
A busy life and good relations
Just like everybody else
Meeting these people’s expectations
Worrying about judgments
But in my chest this acute pain
This unusual taste in my mouth
And all that counted now seems vain
Suddenly overwhelmed by doubt
I cannot be struck by these throes
With all my feelings and my thoughts
It would be too much awful woes
That my efforts had been for naught
On the chase of dreams and their demise
A sense of nonsense in disguise
This is not fair, we cannot bear
Yet another kind of torment
So disappointed, in absolute bewilderment
Today should be like every remaining day
Definitely all that I ask for
Whatever the moment when I’ll go away
That does not change anything at all
Happiness is complete in the here and now
It will not increase with a longer time
No other place but where I’m sitting down
This one quiet throne that I recognize as mine
Maybe it is going to take me nowhere
But I reckon not having to go anywhere
I don’t keep any illusion to hold dear
I just need to be ready to disappear
Void comes from the self alone
Fear from what we believe we own
Stoics across time give an advice
May death be daily before our eyes
Beware a deal that is meant to be fair
Among the crowd at the feast
Where the prey is pleased to share
The same bench as the savage beast
Fed with the need to win the race
While remaining at a proper place
Until being struck by the late hour
As we shudder at the taste turning sour
We live as if time wasn’t going by
Polite guests, not even scared to die
Forgetting to get back on the road
To leave behind all the truths we believed to hold
Settle for the chill of the forest stream
To quench your thirst, and go forward
Lightened by the faint undergrowth gleam
Rather than the dull shine of rewards
Leave a sheltered easy life
To adventure into the wild
We might fail taking to the woods
But can’t be bound by shallow goods
One is wise to go his own way
Never mind if you’re starting late
Wolves run wherever they like
We may not arrive in due time
This bright point, keep it in your eye
We must stay on course
Fellows who lingered feel now dismayed
By quite a cruel truth to learn
For any feast, the cost to be paid
Is an amount of life in return
One is wise to go his own way
Never mind if you’re starting late
Wolves run wherever they like
We may not arrive in due time
This bright point, keep it in your eye
We must stay on course
Sheltered in there since the fateful flight
Crafted den, seething with these dreams alive
The shadow will no more withdraw
Wicked time has frozen in a dusky dawn
Daylight will never be reaching noon
Marvel and despair of a world
Dressing not anymore in its cloak of gloom
Nothing hinders the will
Nor suffers delay
Time is standing still
As nothing more stands in the way
Even if he claims
Only joy remains
Even quite alone
In a savage run
The ones that might slow the haste
Are fated to be hushed
The ones that try to stop the race
Deserve to be crushed
Under a mask of conceit and pride
Badly armed with some tricks and a cunning mind
The harmless faced the foe unnamed
Played the part of a cruel unfair game
And killed, destroyed the grim enemy grown
Only one tremor for a wrong
Buried under a bunch of stillborn hopes
Nothing hinders the will
Nor suffers delay
Time is standing still
As nothing more stands in the way
Even if he claims
Only joy remains
Even quite alone
In a savage run
How would it be like to live along
Our passions all the way ?
And let their harrowing law
Prevails until the last day !
How in the world, did I get there
Bonded by habit’s chains ?
Countless duties everywhere
Will soon drive me insane !
Condemned to ceaselessly repeat
The same absurd distress
There is no more dreadful ordeal
Than carry on while knowing all that meaningless
Amid the strife between our longing and deeds
May the struggle itself be enough to craft our bliss
But first of all, let’s trick the fate
And devote to chasing new baits
As we escape across the void
Let’s reshape what’s already spoiled
Sticking to that forlorn solace
Futile entertainment
Perpetual restarting
Devoid of sense as well !
Now time to face, with new insight
The huge waste of the years
What once seemed of little price
Is driving me to tears !
Condemned to ceaselessly repeat
The same absurd distress
There is no more dreadful ordeal
Than carry on while knowing all that meaningless
But first of all, let’s trick the fate
And devote to chasing new baits
As we escape across the void
Let’s reshape what’s already spoiled
From deep slumber we awaken
When this sudden moment comes
Unexpected news calling
To the bedside of our kin
You have taken the hellebore
To cure your sorrow, heal your sores
Trapped at last by toxic grain
Which for a while relieved the pain
Many major things to do, I recall
Delayed me while you sank into dire fall
We’re not aware of the woes to bear
When the somber fate was ever kept at bay
How I bemoan that time has flown
For the coming days are a covered pathway
I seek to mend my faults
And to find the antidote
Will there be enough time
For a change of life ?
Black flowers, misleading leaves
For an evergreen disease
Within the ill, we find the cure
Mourning is real renewal’s root
A shade is cast over my bliss
A threat is on your life
Grounds for another sense of guilt
I’m even more in fear for mine
The day has come to take our place on time’s curve
Through the grief
To this horror which seizes us
We belong
We’re not aware of the woes to bear
When the somber fate was ever kept at bay
How I bemoan that time has flown
For the coming days are a covered pathway
I seek to mend my faults
And to find the antidote
Will there be enough time
For a change of life ?
Faint sound coming from the heights
Limbs are rasping in the breeze
Omen of relentless plight
Foretold by the laughing trees
But soothing hope enlightens dusk
So begins a loyal quest
Made of things to bow
Endlessly doing your best
To stay true to your vow
Be sure to do what’s right
And silence all the fears
Always waiving with delight
All that you held dear
Even when the reason is blurred
You’re not the kind to forsake
Sailing in turbid, uncharted waters
Commitment drags you in its wake
New pledges sworn
To remain faithful to the old ones
Again and again
You’ll try in vain
Learning too late
Defeat is our fate
Worm of doom
Long in his lair
Lied upon despair
Word given yields
Before all things
Depending not on the will
Pain, grudge, gall
Take your reward
Vain, foolish pride
Behold your might
New pledges sworn
To remain faithful to the old ones
Repeated vows
In disaster bind us even more
Still you dwell on grievance past
All is gone in a single blast
Defying the world’s contempt
In a desperate last attempt
Never more you’ll be deceived
By the conceit of your oaths
Like the gentle falling leaves
Wind has slowly blown them all
Nearby the ships, the armies have met
For a new onslaught far from the high walls
A torch is carried, the fire lets
No kind of retreat once the first flame falls
Bitter defeat again switches sides
Last hope of the greeks is waiting afar
The screaming fray engulfs like a tide
The one fallen under fellow’s arms
Now he’s back, enraged
Crimson blood will drench the soil
Soon he’ll pour his cruel revenge
Upon the plain of Troy
So cloak your pain with rage
Fling a blade over despair
For the last battle to wage
Let fury lead warfare
No time to mourn
The revenge needs no tears
Of ire adorned
Unleash the baneful spear
No more inspired by the wish for praise
Thrown in the fire, as the many slayed
Dragging the corpse, so fiercely tough
Despite all the blood shed
This will never be enough
To behold the trojan dead
Painful distress still dwelling in his heart
Bloody vengeance has not quenched his wrath
As the mourning city awaits
Crossing the hallowed gate
An old man hauls his gift, unseen
To the bane of his kin
Here they are, the king, the warrior
Once they were the mightiest of theirs
Now on pathetic fate, they cry
Their beloved ones are lost, they died
Shared sorrow and crushing grief
Forgiveness rules, and rage is sheathed
Fame, hatred, blood and fire
None remains but a smoking pyre
Pulled from a life soft and quiescent
Flung into the heart of fight
Threat and peril at any moment
Death is everywhere in sight
Neither rest nor peace
Nor a place of safety
Circled with perpetual fear
Of those who struggle to live
This feral world seems not to know any moral law
These savages tear all to pieces between callous jaws
Need to change to survive in this hostile land
Time to learn the way of the claw and the fang
As the primordial beast grows stronger
And the claims of mankind are waning in whispers
Herein the primeval forest
Covered by the veil of the mist
The theatre of a great trial
And the trail to wisdom we aspire
Deep into the wild
The river runs as the pack pours in a flood
Life flows and breeds and fades away in blood
Nothing stands still, all existence is brief
Reminding that law gives us some relief
Turn away from the toil
Seek for your true self
In due time returning to void
Follow the tracks elders have left
Trial of death must be faced
To retrieve our rightful place
All from nature rise and fall
And shall dissolve to its call
So go on your way and rely
On the growing sound of the wild
The song of the stream, make it yours
And never go back anymore
Swift messenger, loquacious crow
Thee through faithfulness obtained
Shift from silver to dark glow
Sing the struggles of a perilous change
Crossing spirit, trickster raven
Thee who disturbs lines and finds
On the border your haven
Show how to get out of an ominous bind
Memory is keeping at bay
Those who hesitate to move away
What is urging to roam
Those who are on the road ?
Wandering the dire lands
Back to gleaming shores
To get lost or to strand
But rest no more
Shape-shifting mind
Ready to take a chance
Lies tells the truth
In the wake of deep change
Crossing spirit, trickster raven
Thee who disturbs lines and finds
On the border your haven
Never enter an unfair game
Nothing ever remains the same
Go on your quick waving black flight
Seeking the ancient ageless light
Standing still you hear drums are beating faraway
While it’s getting closer angst is growing every day
The grim saraband
The black rondo
The frantic jig
For the young and the old
Both the starved and the crowned
All are taken away to a sudden end
What we are, they were
Those who lie in their graves
May the worms and decay be our common fate
Yesterday was time to dance footloose upon the earth
Now you can’t refuse to give up all things of worth
No time for contrite regrets, no more bitter cries
Now come, for everyone must finally die
Crooked bones lead the dance
Doomed ones coerced to prance
The noisy scream of pipes
Bring them to their demise
Here they are the still and silent
Ossuary residents
Ironic naked teeth
Smiling at our deep conceit
How unworthy our concerns are
Tempers, pledges and desires
As bodies buried, nothing lasts
This is where the sad truth lies
Crowded skulls as a looking-glass
The whole world is a charnel house
Lively corpses on respite
Behind beauty, decay hides
Beware to not being caught off guard
Gloomy tragedy of a lifetime marred
We don’t know when we’ll take our last breath
There’s no reprieve for the dance of death
When will come the final breath?
No reprieve for the dance of death
Aephanemer – Symphonic Melodic Death Metal