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1. |
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No one comes around anymore
He is the furthest thing from their mind
Henry thinks that he’s going home
But he was abandoned here, and here he’ll stay
As kind as a man can be
Discarded with hardly a word
He doesn’t yet know
His whole world is gone
A warm smile and hopeful eyes
Greeting everyone as a friend
Inoculated against woe
Of doom and gloom he’s unaware
Patient is he, waiting in vain
For the door to open
They’re analyzing (agonizing), penalizing (neutralizing), criticizing (minimizing), fantasizing (ostracizing), paralyzing, supervising (and surmising)
all will be lost soon
At times the hazy static in his
mind would give way
to momentary lucidity.
Recollections as
real and focused as sunlight
Separations vanish as his senses would thoughtlessly betray
[Reality or merely] the memory (of a memory) here?
Only to forget, only to vanish
Awake and in the
moment yet pitifully unaware
He knows with resolute conviction here he does not belong.
The dull ache of an absence he's yet to realize
This parting yet to be understood
"Let me go," he begs.
With tearful eyes,
he smiles
to hide he’s desperate
Get away.
He wants to scream yet still he
Just smiles
Hoping for Mary.
This ceaseless dream confounds, bears no understanding
“Am I a prisoner?” His fears swirl and swarm like flies
Parades of unfamiliar faces passing by
Stolen from his home or his home stolen from him?
Parades of
unfamiliar faces
passing by
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2. |
Stage 2: The Captive
06:00
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What have you done with my wife?
(Get away from me!)
Mary can you hear my voice?
(I don’t belong here)
Open this door
Release me from this cage
You have the wrong man
I’m not a criminal
Tell me what have you done with her?
Terrifying to believe
I’ve been locked away
Must be some kind of mistake
Who would leave me here alone?
I can’t see the sunrise through these walls
Who do they think I am?
What do they think I’ve done?
They try to tell me that this is my home
Malefactor they must think me to be
Get out! Let me go!
How can I convince them that I’m not the one
Deserving to be here alone
Get out! Let me go!
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3. |
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The holes are deepening in my mind.
Memories like phantoms die
Approaching doors, extending hands
Turn the knob and what do I find?
Only a stark emptiness
Nothing here now.
No future mine
But no past behind
I’m just another empty shell.
Death of the mind
No one beside
Perhaps this is my own hell
Do not ask me to remember
Don’t try to make me understand
Let me rest and know you’re with me
Kiss my cheek and hold my hand
I’m so confused and I’m so lost.
So the best of me is done.
All this time
Further away
I know there’s even worse to come
Leaving me
My faculties
A young man passed by here today,
He said, “good to see you.”
He seemed so kind the more we spoke
He told me of his father old.
Poor boy was confused, called me “Dad” left in falling tears
I don’t understand why he’s so sad it makes me want to runaway in fact
I just want to fly away
I still want to fly away
So the best of me is done.
All this time
Further away
I know there’s even worse to come
Leaving me
My faculties
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4. |
Stage 4: The Dream
11:47
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Float out away from this place.
And all that they know.
Beneath a sunless sky you might
Remember who you are.
Henry is it in you to give up?
Live in dust?
Turn to rust?
In a night or in a day
In a vision or in none
Hope it seems will disappear
Do you see? Do you seem?
Will they be there when
You open
Eyes again?
Mary I can
See you standing
Wrapped in white
So beautiful
I’m so glad to
See you again
I’ve been so
alone.
Hold my hand
No more fear
Lost so much
You appear
Stay with me
Where have you been?
Why can’t I hear you?
Your lips are moving
But nothing’s clear.
My hands are trembling
My wings are broken
Will you lift me up with
Your song?
Do I dream?
Is this real?
Can I see?
Can I feel?
Flying higher, clouds so far beneath us.
I knew you'd come back to me.
Gravity is calling us back home.
We can break it, we can break free
Henry you know I'm not really here.
No, I won't let you go!
All dreams dissolve I too disappear.
Please don't leave me alone again!
Falling down…
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5. |
Stage 5: The Nightmare
12:14
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No one’s listening
You’re alone now Henry
We will take
Everything
Starting with
Memories
Your true love
Remember she is dead?
We will
Take your hands
Take your legs
Take your lungs
Take your eyes
Paralyzed
Like an insect pinned in place
Though you feel it all
Steal from you that sweetest melody
Feel the tide drawing you further down
Here exists no more reverie
Just melancholy and woe
See now, your body won’t obey
Trapped inside an endless night
You'll never wake again...
Relive the darkest of all your days
Real and dream will cease to have a line
Watch as you burn without flame
Fugitive is hope
So pitiless are we
Here on this despondent shore
Now or then
Then or now
Tell me Henry, Is it now or is it then?
The pitiful fragments of your mind
Won’t permit you to differentiate
All woe
Shall be
Visited upon you, Henry
No more light in your eyes
No more words from your lips
Rejoice in this mute hell
All this chaos concealed (you won’t reveal)
In this imprisoned mind
Left with no recourse (no where to go)
You will wish you could die
Death comes – so slowly in this blankness
You’ll beg – for it to all end
Hope leaves – all now extinguished
Trapped here – a corpse that can’t die
Sullen – your body a casket
Frozen – a glacial mind
Bottomless – perdition to dwell
Empty – is your hell
All woe
Shall be
Visited upon you, Henry
No more light in your eyes
No more words from your lips
Rejoice in this mute hell
All this chaos concealed (you won’t reveal)
In this imprisoned mind
Left with no recourse (no where to go)
You will wish you could die
There is no way out.
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6. |
Stage 6: The Oubliette
10:38
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Can’t speak
Can’t eat
Cemented to this bed
Can’t breathe
Can’t think
An empty oubliette now
Pieces of who I was…
Forming a river under…
Listless and unaware…
Not dead. Not asleep.
I am awake.
Never knowing.
Never showing you.
White coats do not see me…
Machines talk to them…
Each day a new stranger…
Think I’m gone but…
I am awake.
I know…
My mind won’t heal.
My body died
And left me behind.
Blank space
Where memories once were.
Please god
Just let me die.
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7. |
Stage 7: _________
06:10
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...sleep now.
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The Reticent Charlotte, North Carolina
"Prog's most emotionally gutwrenching band." - Metal Temple
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