Lyrics
All lyrics written by Greg Schwan
Doom II
On this black ocean
We were sent with a warning
But days ago
We lost sight of the shore
The captain went mad
And down below
They’re showing signs
We bolted the portals shut
We sleep to the scratching
We’re dying of thirst
On this black ocean
Another man frozen
Under starcover
Push them over
If nothing else
At least they’re free
That light out there
Must be the shore
Turn to port
Hark, is that the light?
Something moves there
Something living
Call out to it
Cry out to it
Alas, another blind ship in the fog
Starboard - it’s too late
There’s no one living
On that vessel
A mirage of life
Was all it was
A trick born of hope
On this black ocean
There’s no saving us now
The life boats are ablaze
Those skeletons are us
Those mad men are us
The blind ship in the fog is us
Cursed voyage on cursed waters
Buried at sea
We were sent with a warning
.
I hope their prayers aren’t answered
No one remembers who they are
What are they praying for?
Who are they praying to?
Why are they scratching against the boards?
I hope their prayers
Aren’t answered
I think we are
Where we belong
I think that’s the shore
A perverse miracle
There’s few left to save
Quiet in the bilge
Not even a whisper
Exhale as the oars turn
They’ve gathered at the aft
To jettison all the provisions
From the bay
Now they throw themselves
Men overboard
Women overboard
Children overboard
Flesh on the cleats
Hark! We’ve caught the wind
That shore grows closer
Hark! Lamp light!
The boom swings
And a few more go over
The lines have all burned like the jib
The scratches all over the boards
Read that their prayers
Were heard
The heeling called back
The groans called back
.
Doom II
A dead ship washed ashore
Some called it a sign
Some called it meaningless
Brave men went aboard
The lamplighters led the way
From the beaches
Lights to and fro
Under starcover
We called it doom
We knew it was too late
They brought all the dead into town
The dead want to be found
But none’s more selfish than a dead man
Who wants to be remembered
After three days
The wails in the night began
A murder here
A murder there
We called it doom
We knew it was too late
The lamplighters turned first
Bleeding eyes and speaking in tongues
O! They cry out
O! They set themselves ablaze
Human candles
Light the night
The weakest were the next
The feeble and the lame
Starboard too late
O! They are boarding
The planks groan
Wind tears our sails
The black ocean’s on fire
Red reflected in the stars
Red reflected in their eyes
Some called it meaningless
.
Worse with time
Two weeks have past
Two weeks that felt like two lifetimes
The lucky ones are hiding in the walls
Underneath the stairs
And in the woods
Everything I once knew
Everyone I once knew
Is fading away
Like we were never here
We sent a rider with our history
But there was pursuit
And we lost sight at the horizon
There’s something at the center of town
It reaches the moon
But keeps going higher
It’s built on written history
Soon a mountain of ash
.
Who were you before all this?
Take this mother
Then take this smith
The farmer and the poor
Murder isn’t new
Jails, prisons
All matter of wrong
The real horror
Was when that ship crashed ashore
What spilled out onto that beach
No mothers spilled onto that beach
No smith, no farmer, no poor
Empty-handed lamplighters
Confused rescuers
And the you I now know
When I met you there
And when I show you mercy now
Who were you before this
We haven’t lost our humanity
‘Tis you
Who were you before this
Never mind that story can’t save you
We’ve lost you to it
Your red eyes
And bleeding gums
If we show you mercy now
Please forgive us
Take this father
Then take this banker
The farmer and the rich
They pile up all the same
Catch fire
And sweeten the air
‘Tis them
Who lost humanity
.
An ending
If you believe
In cycles and renewal
Consider this ending
Consider everything
we once were
Erased and forgotten
By a charnel house ship
That drifted onto shore
By the time they reached us
Their ending had already come
Guess you could
Say the same for us
Daybreak on the first day
Was the final moment of peace
The final moment
Before we were swept away
And these are my last words
Spoken from another place
Between two worlds
In a deep dark void
There’s nothing left for me
To see, hear, or feel
Nothing here begins again
A Game of You
The winds came
The words on those winds
Spoke lie after lie
Because memories speak
A language all their own
Which you can call truth
If you want or if you must
If you want or if you must
If you must
That storm was you
What you tell yourself
That storm was you
What you tell yourself
Who you were
And who you are
If I hate the person I was
And want to become someone new
Will this city let me
Trains full of eyes
I’m not sure
Identity bespoke
Anonymous and invisible
To be someone
And end up no one
Faces nailed to the wall
Dead faces with no cares
Tell you who you are
But what do they know?
Worry about that storm
We’re all equal in its eyes
The faces got that right
Something is coming for us all
It’s coming for us all
If I hate the person I was
And I want to become someone new
Will this city let me
Trains full of eyes
I’m not sure
Identity bespoke
Anonymous and invisible
If there’s a moral here
It’s say goodbye
When you can
Before we’re all swept away
By memory
By wind
By that storm
.
Consummatum est
They only ever wanted mercy
For you, that light
A light for a dark age
A light to hold inside
Reunion
To go with you
To be in the same place
If I can’t remember
Do I lose you forever?
If I can’t remember
Will I lose you forever?
If I can’t remember
Were you ever there?
If the light goes out
Will I know anything?
And will I be me?
Will I be me?
If the light goes out
Will I know anything?
And will I be me?
If I can’t remember
Do I lose you forever?
If I can’t remember
Will I lose you forever?
If I can’t remember
Were you ever there?
If the light goes out
Will I know anything?
And will I be me?
They only ever wanted mercy
For you, that light
A light in the dark age
A light to hold inside
Reunion
Reunion
To go with you
To be in the same place
Reunion
Reunion
.
A Statue Floats Downriver
Some kind of inheritance
A weathered and worn inscription
Your guilt and shame
Your pride and honor
All wrapped in stone
Voided stone floating downriver
What is it you need
To remember?
Stone can’t light the way
When the dark age comes
When the dark age comes
Stone horse
Stone man
Rifle, stirrup, flag
Material relics
Spiritual atrocities
A statue floats downriver
Its birthplace unknown
We simply forgot, so don’t ask
But when it hits the sea
This time it will sink
No eternal return
An end to this
An end to you
Maybe we’ll be free
From now on
From now on
Stone horse
Stone man
Rifle, stirrup, flag
Material relics
Spiritual atrocities
In stories men are always scared of ghosts
In the real world they worship them
A statue floats downriver
To be buried in the sea
A statue floats downriver