1. |
The Sunset Gate
07:36
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Pt 1 The Sunset Gate
Unlocked and beckoning
The gate was opened wide
Yet there we stood
The air, electric
And in angry hues, the painted sky
We lingered, gazing
And then the trees began to toss
Time to head beyond
The frightening gate before us loomed
With rocking motions prayers were uttered, flung
As lighting flashed, a laboring sky
Gave birth to a squall
No darker fear had we felt
But then it passed us by
All grew quiet
Except a distant thundering, and blundering
Toward light we’re creeping
I hear the sound of blood in my heart
Rushing life red, singing life to me
Is this only a tired refrain
An echo of a song
The sound of a dying heart
Haggard, wayworn, it struggles on
It’s beating life to me
A pity, yet I try to help where I can
A tested traveler, it seems to know
This time-worn path by which we go
Ever seeks, strains to see, far ahead, desperate paths
Before the gate I stood with you in doubt
I reached out for your hand
Then, the battle that raged within
You saw me strive with evil, nearly give in to it
Lowly creature, bereft of honor
Conquered fear but not alone
Took strength from that blue-eyed girl who stood with me
From storm to storm, you ran with me
'til at last we stood there by that gate
Cruel iron, wide it flung, opened wide
Rusty thing, wide it swung
A shadow in the mist ahead will rise
Beyond the starlight gleams
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2. |
Beyond They Dwell
03:56
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Part 2 Beyond They Dwell
Shadows come and shadows
Flicker, flit then vanish
Quiet, for they can hear you
They’re just a memory, and as such
These are real, be wary
Hold no power for they
Waver and are fleeting
We’re going in, and never more to look behind
Say no more of shadows
They glide on past yet gleaming eyes and clutching claws are
Grasping to hinder me
What is that they whisper?
Because of selfish pride I’ve stumbled into error
These things, they look inside
And loot the soul of all it sought to hide there
We stood before the gate, then took one step beyond it
The hindering, hooded ones; they crowded round
To block our passing on
There is a will more strong, a heart more hale, a spirit worthy!
Grounded, we must, we must wait here, and yet I can
See it ahead just beyond that dark land that stretches
Onward. Don’t go! Please don’t leave me alone
For I’m frozen, and we, we must stick together
Or we’ll both be lost
There is something I dare not name before us
Yet it must be faced, though in darkness it seems monstrous
We need, need not fear him; for fear only feeds him.
Gathers doubtful shadows to cloak his shape
Life is fleeting, why delay this
Lets plunge ahead and though the darkness
Seems full of shapes and though I dread them
I see the lights ahead and homeward
We should race as if it’s all that matters
Onward...
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3. |
The Restless Ones
03:39
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Pt. 3 The Restless Ones
Life’s Sunset Gate behind
Sunrise Unknown before
Dare we tread the path through Death to Life
I can see a way ahead
Past stones that bear the names
Of those who went before us
They were left in darkness long ago
We dare not dwell among them
The grass is growing green
O’er each and every head
They cry out in their sleep
These restless ones, they ever long for life
They’ll soon have ours if we but linger
Each saddened shade, they rise up with
A will; defying our intentions,
Memories of deeds we need to leave here
They flee but never far
We run but they pursue
With fell intent they race
We turn, but they recede
The grass is growing green
O’er each and every head
They cry out in their sleep
These restless ones, they ever long
We dare not join their number
Through this graveyard old
Past its mounds of sorrow
She and I must go
And ever seeking home
My love, my love?
Somewhere up ahead?
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4. |
They Cast Their Spell
03:19
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Pt. 4 They Cast Their Spell
A spectral mist begins to creep
Oh to lay here, then to sleep!
There’s something in this fog, a spell?
That bids us here to rest, to dwell
Resist its pull, we must be gone
Flee the darkness, then on 'til dawn
For we would rid ourselves of these
Who to and fro upon the breeze
Flit wraith-like, and are but memories
Of deeds we’d sooner put behind
A serpent slithers through the stones
And digging deep he stirs the bones
He weaves a mist and up they rise
While down we fall
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5. |
We Slept, We Dreamed
07:41
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Pt. 5 We Slept, We Dreamed
So long ago it was
‘Neath fragrant bowers we met
Like pillars, oak and elm rose
Towering over our heads
And spring was nigh
In youth we were heedless,
Reckless and in love
Throwing care to the wind
Never noticing Time
Menaced all and all we held dear
So we danced in moonlight
‘Neath starry skies
As gentle winds were stirred
Time could not catch us
We dancers in twilight
For as swift as deer
We ran from him
For being young
We saw not that he would win
The Truth! We could not see the Truth!
Straight as an arrow we flew to him
He ran not behind but before us
Years, how they fled
And we were left, two wanderers
Roaming, lost ‘mid the trees
And the shadows that we’d made
Were following, ever following
Weary of dancing now, the race was over
For youth was spent and we could not change
All that was done.
Time can seem such a bitter thing
For this is the song he sang to us
“Curses you wrought and death pursued
In countless ways a doom you wooed
And it’s left you here at last alone, all alone.”
Wake now! Rise now!
There remains a light and ahead and I
See it! It leads homeward
Where Time can’t follow
Time can’t touch us
Sleep, he bid us sleep
Amid the stones we lay
He left us here
Sorrow heaped on sorrow
Yet beneath this
Crushing weight we’ll struggle through
It matters not what horrors he
May thrust on us to weigh us down
He must not be given the final say
We’ll loose the chains he’s placed on us
And head for home
His comrades gather close, they are
the shadows of regret; they loom, we fall.
Ex sepulchro atro gemimus
Pallidi trementes per frigus
Corda immota tamen errant
Curis anxa perpetuo
Inexpleta nam ardant
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6. |
The Years Were Sped
02:57
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(Instrumental)
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7. |
Our Foe Revealed
06:26
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Pt. 7 Our Foe Revealed
Singing, we go singing
Past the tombstones undaunted
Shadows, only memories
Our hearts they but haunted
They flee the moment we decide
We’ve had enough and they’re denied
Access to stir our fear.
Drifting wraiths have no power.
Parting, they make way
Straight ahead the pathway
Lovers, shall we not
Run straight toward the rising sun?
They flee the moment we decide
We’ve had enough and they’re denied
They recede. They’re undone.
Memories, they but vanish.
They flee the moment we decide
To look ahead regardless of the taunts they fling
As we race by. The frightening, fearful journey
Is the final test; and his unmasking is nigh.
Our dreaded enemy revealed;
Gaunt watcher o’er the weary world.
‘Ware this treacherous road, I like it not
What dark design has led us past these evil things
Only to find the way is choked and far too hard to follow
There’s a serpent coiled and he may strike if we dare pass him by
He’ll flee the moment we decide
To name at last that hidden thing
We buried deep inside of us
Always there, locked within guiding us toward home!
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8. |
Toward Home We Fled
06:43
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Pt. 8 Toward Home We Fled
Sunlight will flood the twilight dales
Through which we race, the twisting trails
Are lit at last as morning breaks.
We two have passed the nighted vales
‘Twixt Time and light wherein the wails
Of misty foes are heard no more.
They hold no sway here
May sunlight ever shine upon our way
Time wounded me, wounded you
Sorrows heaped upon our heads
Haunter of our hearts
Murdered every joy
Left his taint upon us
Grim and unrelenting, Time
We knew, the hunter ever in pursuit
Without a word he turns away
Back to his world of stony mounds
The graves of shattered dreams
He goes, weeping.
Past the sunlit meadows up ahead
There’s yet one hurdle that we dread
Yet once beyond it we’ll be free
And free we’ll face the mystery
And free we’ve rid ourselves of doubt
A home that calls out to me
Lies beyond that final step
Time wounded me, wounded you
Horrors heaped upon our heads
When life got hard you stood with me
The road of sorrow wound ahead
And hope seemed lost
Our heads hung low
And hand in hand we’d not let go
There is a higher place
I see it up ahead
Familiar it beckons me
There is the home we ever sought
A place for us
Our dreams once shattered
Have gathered to welcome us
They’ve sheltered there and wait for me
They wait for thee
For this, we fought
Through Hell and back
And now at last just up ahead
A friendly fire, a table laid
A place to lay our weary heads
To rest, then wake to sing
To play to dance
It’s waiting just ahead
We race toward the rising sun
Farther, sometimes it seems farther
Distant, it fades from our view
There’s Death between us
And the place we’re seeking
For a curse has fallen and
We never know the final gasp
That will finalize
Our doom harbors Death
He will have his say
Our doom, that we will face; each one of us
Yet weary travelers of the mortal plane have hope of Heaven’s realm
I saw it once, I felt it there and all that it implied
I can see the way ahead
Past stones that bear the names
Of those who went before us
They were left in darkness long ago
We dare not dwell among them
We are called beyond to Heaven!
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9. |
As The Sun Dipped Low
01:35
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10. |
The Wolf Gave Chase
01:58
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11. |
We Fell At Last
01:55
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12. |
In That Lonely Place
06:07
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Pt 12 In That Lonely Place
There is a song the cold wind sings
It seems to breathe a thousand things
We turn to go
Before the world grew sad and grey
Ever we sang, yet led astray
And now we know
For we have heard it whisper fell
A voice, a phantom flung from Hell
As we turn to go
Hopeless now but not undone
Hope is that to which we run
Hope calls from another place
Hope is found in your embrace
I lay here now beneath a stone
I lay here cold, yet not alone
A wolfish shape has come
He is the song the cold wind sings
As unto paupers so to kings
And thus he sings to me
I rise, but helpless as a child
He bears his fangs and lunges wild
For he is fearless
A torn and ragged man am I
Worn out and weary, left to die
I’ve come so far to fail
Hopeless now but not undone
Hope is that to which we run
Hope calls from another place
Hope is found in your embrace
I feared the trail had reached an end
I feared what waited round the bend
And though the dark ones crowded near
They were but shrouding something dear
Time had his cruel laugh and then
A curse, a wolf, the bane of men
Laid me low at last
And now the cold wind sings no more
In mist we sense the great unknown
Yet we can’t avoid the Truth, the doom we face
Where have you fled, my soul, my love?
I hear you call from up above
And are you waiting?
Before I closed my eyes to rest
I heard your call and I was blessed
There is a home, I heard you say
Where Time and Death will hold no sway
Hopeless now but not undone
Hope is that to which we run
Hope calls from another place
Hope is found in your embrace
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13. |
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Pt 13 Where Sorrows Died And Came No More
All fear was fled
In the dead of night you came
Shining light on the pathway ahead
The stones that had weighed me down
Were but crumbling all around
From the shadows we were swiftly sped
I could see the Truth, and at once
We raced from the darkness to light
Leaving a weary world far behind
I could see the truth, and at once
I saw those who waited for me
And free from the perilous realm
I could find peace at last
The storms of life they came
As we made our way toward home
And foes, they rose to strike us down
These are not the Truth, though they threaten
They are soon swallowed by Time
And matter not when the end is come
Oh love of mine, the trial is past
We may dance once more beneath the gaze of Him we sought
For the gate has closed behind us
And we’re gathered home at last!
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