Trisagion, by Ethereal Shroud (2024)

1.

How wise the God who trades his son for lesser men Who seek no temple, only avarice and permanenceJudge not the heart, but thy devotionKeep those who remainAs close to salvation as to destitutionI can't explain what it means to be wholeYou took that virtue away from meA kingdom adorned with the thorns of thy idolWho scorn the breath of truth and reasonWe cannot pretendThat the rules are the sameFor the blasphemer and the saint, the blasphemer and the saintWe cannot pretendThat the rules are the sameFor the commoner and the priest, the commoner and the priestThe toils I've endured are so far beyond meaningThere is no greater voice, only tenets and blood-stained stonesYour archaism dies this dayYou are but the shadow of a lie Feeble and brittle like silenceBending the fear of earnest held faithYou took the world from usFrom cracked and sullen handsAs hope slipped through our fingersAnd sank beneath the sands Fire sows the fireWrath rends retributionEffigies casting shadowsLikening tyrants to deitiesBefelling monumentsTo prove hence from this dayWhat's written in stoneCan crumble to dustTo what end was I made this wayIf my nature is a transgressionI cannot build myself up againTo watch myself fall apart at the seamsI cannot walk if I'm destined to fallThrough trials by design of cruelty and hateYou are so frailYou hide behind your fearYour faith is a mask for your insecurityAnd you wield it like a swordSummoning the flood, the call of the raging seasApollyon's wake before the world We ache, we fear and we suffer for naughtUndue and unjust is the the folly of ChristTransient echoes from a long lost eraCannot conceive my fate I suffer the want for a better world And the need for compassion in terrible timesGreat is my weakness to punish myself forA love forbidden by those who bore meBehind the weight of this cage of bonesIs a heart that sinks at the sights of greedOf a Lord who damns his beloved creationFor sins he determined his sons to commitI cannot pretendThat I am the sameAs I once wasAs I once wasIf dreams lie in tattersAnd a soul knows no purposeWhat can I hope forWhat can I live forThere was a time whereI could forgiveBut I've lost so muchSo f*cking muchI hate that I hateAs it brings me closer to youI am not what I amI am not what I amI am so lost in this placeThese vast surroundings compel me to dreadAs I sink within myselfForging an irrepassable pathI can't regret what I feel is justI am one with the sword you held to meReflection in the steelI am not what I amForged and contortedI am what I amForged and contorted

2.

I lost myself in fear of the unknownAn enigmatic constant of a cold malignant formTo rise within me as a rush of boiling bloodI seethe at the sight of your faceBut it might as well be a mirrorUnyielding...I cannot contend with the instinct to hate my fellow man for his natureWho are we to justify these means if the end is counting the dead? Within ourselves is the choice to love or hateTo use one's faith as an impetus for scorn or a guiding handTo cast light with it or cast a solemn curseI chose to sufferWithout form, without remorseWe are aloneI am not afraid to fall I am not my fearsHumanity's weakness is a curse to carry with graceBut it will not be my ruinWithin ourselves is the choice to love or hateTo use one's faith as an impetus for scorn or a guiding handTo cast light with it or cast a solemn curseI chose to riseWe are oneYou are nothingAbsolve yourself of your painYou are stronger than your oppressorTheir insecurityWill be your triumphAs the fire burnsCreating smoldering ruinsBring righteous lightBring righteous hopeWithin ourselves is the choice to love or hateTo use one's faith as an impetus for scorn or a guiding handTo cast light with it or cast a solemn curseI chose to standOnly the weak would let fear rule their handOnly the frail would hate their fellow manWithout form, without sight, without light You govern mind and manIn your discarnate form, your influence has guided handsTo wield swords with wrathIf I alone can see your futilityThen you see it yourselfI am stronger than I was years beforeFrom when I knelt before you

3.

Movement...I'm asleep in a fogThat nothing can cut throughThe constant of time standing ever stillWaters pristine, oar rippling starsAn endless expanseEmpyreal mirrorWhat is this lightPiercing heaven's skyI cannot seeI cannot seeIf only I knewWhat this weatherworn face would seeI'd have set sail for another shoreThese seas tumultuous and mercilessThose sent to guide me only drove me deeper into stormsBeset into defeat, gripped by paralysisPumelled by relentless rains of doubt and despairDespite the weight of it allI'm not sure if I felt it at all And as I sank like a stoneI feared too much to ask of youTo reach down and pull me inOr to turn away and let me goLeave me hereI'm the only one I trustNot to deepen these woundsCast me adriftI'm safer aloneI can guide myself homeWherever that may beWhy am I so numbTo the terrors I've seenTo the pains I've feltTo the fear I've known?Countless in number they areThey say they are my strengthBut each scar is a weightPulling me furtherEach make me sinkForlorn visions of bygone times are lost in the swellReality's rawness is lost to the dazeBring me sleepYou are lost but I have found my own placeIn this maladjusted world we call our homeI hid in the starsI conjured a worldI made my escapeYou cannot hurt me hereI longed for the same as youBut I'm at peace nowWhatever story they tell of meThrough the lens of misjudgmentMeans nothing to me hereWith doors open wideCome find me