The Betrayers
Lyrics
All the great betrayers
Have they felt like I have?
All the great liars
felt like I have?
Today,
On this bed I lay.
All of the artful diers
Judases and Brutus,
Have they felt like I have,
When I
(go) against the Name?
Take me;
Take this from me.
And when I stand
Before the gate...
Notes
I wrote this to express the feelings of apostasy, specifically how it feels to be one who betrays.
Wasted Grace
Lyrics
Do you hear me
Do you hear what I
What I have to say?
Will you unstop your ears
Just for a day?
Will you go away?
Will you turn and
Turn and walk away?
Will you live your life
In the same old way?
Chorus:
Blood
My blood
Nothing is done in vain
Blood
This blood
This
This is not
Wasted grace
If I speak aloud
If I say the words
Say the words out loud
Do I dare to say
Say your name?
One thing that is true,
One thing that
Always remains --
One love, one hope
One sacrifice.
Chorus
Notes
This is the second-oldest song on the EP. It'd been collecting dust on one of my song idea tapes (I've got at least ten 60-min tapes full of them) and yet, it was one of the strongest and most complete songs there. It seems primal, somehow and while not exactly doom metal, it's in the neighborhood.
The term "wasted grace" is a theological concept; basically if Christ died for some who are not in the end, saved, then the grace applied to them has been wasted. Because God has foreknowledge of human action, there is no wasted grace. The lyrics are from the viewpoint of God.
Blood on Sand
Lyrics
And when I'm falling down
Through the predictable comfortable pain,
I close my eyes...
And think again
Of something greater than me,
To escape
This misery...
Chorus:
I see blood on sand.
I cannot even raise my hands
Or my eyes to see,
But I know without
Seeing further,
Blood on sand.
"Could we ever be free?"
Someone will ask, sadistically.
"You're enslaved by this skin
(By this skin).
Your Jesus is just nicotene
A grandfather in the sky,
To help fools get through life."
Chorus
So what do you do
When you're all through?
Here at the world's end
Here at the world's end
You're falling down through shadows;
Is torment your only hope?
Where do you turn?
Where do you run?
Into the stained arms of man
In gods much less than Him you loathe?
In money? In drugs?
In everyday idolatry?
Self-hewn things that fade and decay?
Close your eyes to see.
Chorus
Payment
Lyrics
A1:
And your expectations
From this foolish labor?
It required no guess,
The sure end in pain.
B1:
The slow unraveling
Of all those lies
The anguished decay
Of your stained plans
A2:
Heed the ancient voice
That calls from all around:
Some ways lead to the grave
Some ways lead straight down.
And this blackened rose
Is all that remains.
Soon you will spit dust;
Temporal dreams are no gain.
B2:
The piercing fade
Of all those lies
The anguished decay
Of a life built on sand
Bridge:
And what you've invested
Claims you now.
The shadows must have their payment.
You know what they clamor for.
Only one way to drive them thence;
Only one hope before dust.
Coda:
The wages of sin are death.
Death
Payment
Payment
The wages of sin are...
Death.