The life, the blood, the endless stream of love.
What else did I have, what else could I give.
With the farmer's hand, hardened with toil
I planted this land, once fertile, now barren.

The question 'what if' still torments me.
And a part looks back, into the past bygone.
Yet, one part races right ahead, it says
No more; no more could I have given.

No more a life to be judged, persecuted.
No more a life lived in shame, in fear.
No more anger, no more love, joy;
No more will these eyes carry tears.

The beginning, those tentative steps.
Then came the dance and the flourish.
And yet, when the dust finally settled
It was back to the beginning.

There was a judge, a jury and a trial
Yet no words said, a judgement passed.
There were memories galore, and yet
It was back to the beginning.

The good done, interred with the bones
The bad, bleeding wounds on the mind.
There was celebration, of love, and yet
It was back to the beginning.

The future today, as lonely as years ago
The heart an empty ground of bloodshed.
And yet, a tiny seed of hope emerged
Perhaps it is a new beginning.

The sins of the past washed by tears,
The start line has been redrawn again.
With the pain in my heart I will run
Perhaps it is a new beginning.

Tall promises, now belittled by time
Firm faith, now shaken by doubt.
The words, they now ring hollow.
From a cauldron so full, so shallow.

From dust to dust, then further on
I move, drag my feet, plunge, fall.
I hurt, I cry; but life doesn't stop.
Then I awaken, to a new 'morrow.

That palace of illusions, of dreams I built
With own hands. Nurtured, strengthened.
With sweat, watered. With love, adorned.
Gave it everything I could ever give, ever.

Yet that very palace, I later discovered.
Was sunny in day, but very dark at night.
The protection I had once hoped for
Was unfortunately never there, never.

Then one day when the storm came,
It took that palace of illusions too.
The palace I had spend my lifetime for
Was nowhere in sight, gone forever.

Then one day, as I sat down to cry
I realised, what I should have long back.
That palaces are fickle, have no heart.
That palaces decay, they always rot.

I realised that love has no home,
It has to stand naked in the rain.
It has to get burnt in the sunny day
And yet, it can never die, never.

This blood on my hands, doesn't go away.
The sins of acts past linger in hazy memories.
The pure water of deeds done good today,
Bloodied by a single drop of blood of history.

In the blithe joy back in those old days,
Didn't know a cut would grow into a wound.
Didn't realise that minds would be so fickle
Didn't know under the currents lay still waters.

Till I scrapped the surface and discovered
That the past was still alive, still breathing.
That the albatross was still around my neck
That the hearts, after all, were still bleeding.

I walk those streets again this night.
Lonely, accompanied by the moonlight.
My heart paces with joy of rediscovery
But the familiar faces are nowhere in sight.

A stranger to my past I have become,
A stranger to the moments yet to come.
In between the bygone and the rising,
Like a possessed man I run, I run.

On top of the world I sat that day
The wind whispered into my ears.
A story, an affair, a love, a passion
One that tore, destroyed, set on fire.

I heard, of times of unbridled hope
Of nights spent in tears' arms, of despair.
Of love that wasn't meant to be fulfilled
Of a life that was never meant to be lived.

I heard of sacrifices unheard to this day
Of sights that mankind wasn't meant to see.
Of words of blood, hell, fire and brimstone,
Of a catharsis that shall never repeat.

And then the wind, it suddenly died.
I got up, picked my clothes and came back.
I went there trying to save the world,
Am glad to have simply returned with dignity.

A thread, the thread of life so fine
Snapped in a moment, oh so fast.
It had just been born, this moment
And now lies scattered, scattered.

In this house of broken glasses,
At this time of raging emotions.
Of hope, of despair - of love,
Of a friendship not meant to be.

A heart sank that day, into the sea
Came to save it not one, not one.
From their palaces of worldly peace,
They watched the drama unfold.

Let it be, just let the heart sink
Into an ocean of despair, of hope.
Let self-pity not overpower
Let this house of wax not burn.

This broken mirror, red with rage
The man in it, a stalwart I once knew.
His decaying face betrays the rust
His haughty eyes, the pride bygone.

The swagger of the past now undone,
The wealth of esteem lost in due time.
Remains, in its place, a hollow shell
But the haughty eyes burn so bright!

This pain, like a dose of anesthetic
Rushes through my body, my soul.
It purges me of the sins bygone,
It gives me strength for future battles.

It is, at once, an unmatched uniter
And the greatest divisive agent.
It is, at once, the beacon of love
And the war cry of blind hatred.

This pain, the story of my life.
This pain, the sorrow of my days.
This pain, the succor of my nights.
To this pain, I surrender, surrender.