5. Facing Eternity
Lyrics and music by Tom Ott. Arranged by EMPERDIA
Gazing at the stars to contemplate the darkness that’s beyond
A strange familiar face came into mind as all hope’s lost and gone
New faith will be found until the final end of days
The pantheons will be exchanged with different and inferior gods to praise
A tiny change in the course of time may tear world’s history to shreds
All we feed our children is the blood that we have shed
Centuries will pass, enemies will be different, yet the same
Wars will come and go as will lives, cultures, eras and faith
The cosmos shines
Illuminating
Our reflections in the sea
A new constellation
A foreshadowing
Of what chants my heirs shall sing
Across the river Styx we fly
Conquered all burdens of the afterlife
Life itself remains a myth
To those that never take and merely give
The crown of thorns is burned
Elder gods awake, soon to return
We have cleansed the world with fire
Left ash and ruins we now admire
As I stare into the sunset of the world I dearly hate
Agonies of people unbeknownst, illusions of freedom raped
The lessons we were taught appear so small in a world this grand
The amount of fallen ones is so great compared to those that still stand
Across the river Styx we fly
Conquered all burdens of the afterlife
Life itself remains a myth
To those that never take and merely give
The crown of thorns is burned
Elder gods awake, soon to return
We have cleansed the world with fire
Left ash and ruins we now admire
Upon the coals of life we trot
Past paths on which we could never walk
Sow the spirit, harvest insight
Exploring Eden beyond wrong and right
Like a maiden on a river’s bank
Waiting for her lover’s ship that long since sank
Man tries to build what simply cannot be
In this age of false clarity
The old man next to me is so young and has never found true love
He doesn’t believe in anything, neither man below nor god above
In a year or two they’ll play the music to his doom
And I will follow him, as will the sun and as will the moon
He has lived beneath the surface for the entirety of his prime
He has not seen the sun and he will not for the rest of his time
Like countless others he has reached the point of no return
About life we mused but never did and shall we learn
With ailing limbs
Through vacant eyes
The gray man faces me and chides
Observe our realm
See its true guise
And you will be as plagued with grief as I
Upon the coals of life we trot
Past paths on which we could never walk
Sow the spirit, harvest insight
Exploring Eden beyond wrong and right
Like a maiden on a river’s bank
Waiting for her lover’s ship that long since sank
Man tries to build what simply cannot be
In this age of false clarity
Across the river Styx we fly
Conquered all burdens of the afterlife
Life itself remains a myth
To those that always take and never give
The crown of thorns is burned
Elder gods awake, soon to return
We have cleansed the world with fire
Left ash and ruins we now admire