1. The Phantom Limb

Truly, madly, deeply
Sadly dead and gone
Canvas burning, spark a yearning
Carry on

I feel, yet I reach into thin air
You heal to your heart's content

Searching deep within you
for strength to continue through sinew and bone
Never mind mending damaged nerve endings
I'm accident prone

I feel, yet I reach into thin air
You heal to your heart's content

I have had a thousand days to wither,
missed the point of no return
I have made my changes for the bitter
and watched your painted likeness burn
It could not save me, nor you
The passers-through no matter
who might make it to the end
It did not save you
I stare at the limb as its precious skin becomes illusion
These bones are at home and I'll keep on cherishing them

I feel, yet I reach into thin air
You heal to your heart's content

2. Old Fuel

The art of seeing eye to eye
The fog or war is on the rise again

It's strange
I cannot recall calling in at all
Losing line of sight
Target: My pride, before the fall
It skillfully eludes
my crosshairs and the noose
Hiding in plain sight, I miss, we fight

and it is on again
I'll aim for your feelings
On again
and fire is returned
Time's run out in search of a weakness
Adding old fuel to fire as we burn

We move on
It can't be the end since time is out of sight
and if it's bend or break, we'll make a break for it at first light
It might sound right true that I'll be true to you
If it comes down to trust, we drop our gloves and it is on again

And so it starts, the endgame, and it may come as no surprise
that this will end in stalemate. In time preceding our demise

And it is on again
I'll aim for your feelings
On again
and fire is returned
Time's run out in search of a weakness
Adding old fuel to fire as we burn

The art of seeing eye to eye
The fog or war is on the rise again

And so it starts, the endgame, and it may come as no surprise
that this will end in stalemate. In time preceding our demise

And it is on again
I'll aim for your feelings
On again
and fire is returned
Time's run out in search of a weakness
Adding old fuel to fire as we burn

3. Stacked Smoke

From this vantage point I might feel inclined to reminisce
Instead, I witness myself politely declining,
stacking mile upon mile of distance between us
Stacking smoke, curtains for film noir

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime
Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke
Figures of speech, free from harm,
like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise
Stacking smoke

Unbeknownst to all, turn to your partner in grime
Unbefitting of smokestacks, we lit up the skyline
and true to our word built a forest of smoke. And stone,
hew me from you, a scarecrow statue
to clothe these wayward bones

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime
Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke
Figures of speech, free from harm,
like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise
Stacking smoke

And fall as we did, aware that we might
have that night blotted out
Blotted out of a wayward, weary memory
of arson and a dream
and an eerie echo will ricochet
off a sole defiant chimney

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime
Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke
Figures of speech, free from harm,
like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise
Stacking smoke

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime
Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke
Figures of speech, free from harm,
like blackbird figurines strewn like pebbles from our high-rise
Stacking smoke

Burning through poorly mended picture frames
and the last of my midnight oil
An arsonist's tale henceforth lost to all
For the life of me, I dare not recall

4. Blackout

Through blue wine
A thousand days to wither
Tricked by time, we never rest
Promise me that we'll escape together
Thick as thieves in the dead of night

Choose your battles wisely
Pick a fight if all else fails
Trust your instincts, strive to prevail
This blackout is the break that we need
And I will follow to whatever end

Moving in stealthy silence
Muted in our secrecy
Lag behind and we might miss
Our window of opportunity

Dogs and floodlight
We've been made
Aware
Stop right there!

Hide now or make a run for your freedom
Yeild? No. I'll fight until the end
And when it ends I want you gone

Tried –not hard enough– to save your skin
It's way to much to hide within
You sold your hide to force a truce
I think It's time to start anew

5. Cyanide Sky

The two of us might
agree to stay alive
When blue acid skies
turn green to blight, we might as well

Someone like you might think about it
A sacrifice too great to hold me, dear

Cool down once per fume to a liquid state
(worth its weight in gold)
Blue and innocent, it meets the eye
(but I won't shed a tear)
Stir it up enough to break the vial
(pour it far and wide)
Cold and blistering by design,
she'll show her true face

Who'd share a dream so bleak?
Millions of eyes slam shut for an instant dreamless sleep
By ruse, dark drones revealed a cyanide sky,
but why? Have my agents turned on me?

If time would tell? Hell. They might as well.

Scentless vapor trails, the bitter sweet (memory of it all)
Breathe the Aerosol, blue and light

When rogue components start taking life
and my chemical agents quadruply
a simple vial contains the beast inside
She'll show her true face

Call off your vessels, dear
Abort your fatal run on our hemispheres
Stand down,
surrender your arms to mine
and in time, you'll see our industries don't need a helping hand

Who'd share a dream so bleak?
Millions of eyes slam shut for an instant dreamless sleep
By ruse, dark drones revealed a cyanide sky,
but why have my agents turned on me?

6. Where The River Ends

Find where the river ends
Linger and make amends
Wash it away in murky waters

Wade in. Sinking. Lonely. You're afraid and
truly, madly, deeply
Sadly gone

If you value life,
find where the river ends
Linger and make amends
Wash it away in murky waters
Down by the river's end
we can stop pretending
or simply wait till life blows over

Wade in. Sinking. Lonely. You're afraid and
truly, madly, deeply
Sadly gone

If you value life,
find where the river ends
Linger and make amends
Wash it away in murky waters
Down by the river's end
we can stop pretending
or simply wait till life blows over

Show me a way to rise above this
Sing me a song that fills the air
Down and away into the water
Sing me a song that fills the air

7. Thursday

There can be no maybe
for the strong
nor for the weak
Maybe perhaps has caused me to hesitate?

No Friday
No tomorrow
No time left to borrow
No Friday
No tomorrow
Your silence, my sorrow

A queen of worries,
my doubts and insecurities
drawn like moths to flame, or so itseems
They eat at my face as
I fear them, the traces
Time for a decision
No

No Friday,
no tomorrow
No time left to borrow
No Friday,
no tomorrow
Your silence, my sorrow

I set an ultimatum
Out with the doubts or in with the flames
Today, no, tomorrow
I guess we'll just wait and see
Maybe

Time for a decision

No Friday,
no tomorrow
No time left to borrow
No Friday,
no tomorrow
Your silence, my sorrow

8. Fury (Forging Tempests part I)

Shadows to the north
Something's stirring
Clouds amass over unsettling horizons
A new breed of storm heralding
a rainy season,
raising questions, raising Cain

So cold here, in the eye of the storm
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea
An entity taking shape,
I'm falling prey to solemn waves
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea

I've tried to taken no notice,
but it's edging closer now
Ever closer to awareness,
seems just a rush of blood away

So cold here, in the eye of the storm
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea
An entity taking shape,
I'm falling prey to solemn waves
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea\n
So cold here, in the eye of the storm
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea
Hold on for dear life, our stronghold,
for the storm in my eyes is growing cold

9. Shadow North (Forging Tempests part II)

Shadow North,
mark a path for me to steer clear of
If peril had a shape, it would be yours
Shaped only spite and strain
so stake your claim
You've forged confusion,
you've fed me well

Unnerving to leave port,
venture out in gale force winds
I look to stern and waver
yet set final sail for the clouds
that shake the old horizon

Shadow North,
chart a course for me, straight and narrow
for searing tempests charge and lash out at my sight
and howling currents tear at the marrow
You've forged a broken blade,
you've fed me well

Unnerving to leave port,
venture out in gale force winds
I look to stern and waver
yet set final sail for the clouds
that shake the old horizon

Spoils of lawless lands lie squandered, given to the sea
Wasted enmity
Given up the ghost that rendered me spineless, wilfully
Wasted enmity
Fury upon me, frozen to the sea
Woe is me

Unnerving to leave port,
venture out in gale force winds
I look to stern and waver
yet set final sail for the clouds
that shake the old horizon

Unyielding, unwavering,
headstrong in gale force winds
I look to stern no more
and find my white whale shaped in the clouds
of my new horizon

10. Shift To Silence (Forging Tempests Part III)

Rush to paint the sea,
paint a world with me
Unveil the stars tonight
and brush the clouds aside
Oceans waxed and waned,
still coursing through my veins
Years have come to pass
since I saw you last
on stranger tides

Gently blowing my way
Shift to silence
Storm of the I
Thunderous crashing waves
fall on deaf ears
The turning of the tides is a rush of blood away
and raising new questions
Fury upon me
Wasted Enmity
Frozen to the sea

11. Beacon (Forging Tempests Part IV)

I ponder over parallel being
Remnants of a man worth his salt,
a shadow from the North
Once I spent
some thousand days out at sea with my love,
hopelessly devoted to the tides

To and fro,
a dance of brittle bones, old as the skies
I wonder how could I break on you now?
I'd lived in al directions,
unfazed through deception

Shadow North,
you've thrown me off course
No stars for guidance in absence of light
and I wonder why I couldn't stop pretending by the riverside
And the river ran dry

Gently blowing my way (and the faultline shifting)
Shift to silence
Storm of the I
Thunderous crashing waves (they rise and they fall)
fall on deaf ears
The turning of the tides is a rush of blood away (and edging ever closer)
and raising new questions
Fury upon me
Wasted enmity (stand tall 'till I'm frozen to the core)
Frozen to the core

I'm falling prey to solemn waves
Carry me away to unsettling horizons

Hold on for dear life, for the storm in my eyes is growing cold
Hold fast as I tear at the marrow
Bite down as I tear into the fabric of life
So cold in the eye of the storm
So cold here in the storm of the I