(no subject)

[joiedecombat]

a thousand words call out through the ages

the kindness I've lavished on strangers is more than I can explain
and God help you if you are a phoenix and you dare to rise up from the ash

a million shades of light
the old echo fades away

seven days and seven nights of thunder

pour myself a cup of ambition
what a way to make a living
for service and devotion
let you dream just to watch them shatter

I would never want to do what it seems I've done
you can never really run everything you start

hurry, boy, it's waiting there for you
frightened of this thing that I've become

bad things happen to the kindest people

yes, you're right / it's exactly as you say, but / the warning came much too late
I'll waste some time and buy him those cigarettes
the rules that someone had set became absolutely useless
it's not like I've got brakes to begin with

so far she hasn't run, though I swear she's had her moments
under the love is a stronger emotion
joy that comes out of sorrow

truth is not kind / and you say neither am I

shine on in the hearts of men
these changes ain't changing me
the gold-hearted boy I used to be
all these things that I've done

I'm still here / until I'm gone
don't rub it in too hard that I've been wrong
still I'm here / and still confused
I can finally see how much I stand to lose

went broke believing that the simple should be hard
it's hard to change the way you lose when you think you've never won

there's a part of me that's always true

'I'm lost,' I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why

I spoke to you in cautious tones / you answered me with no pretense
still I feel I've said too much
my silence is my self-defense
and so it goes, and so it goes / and so will you soon, I suppose
you can have this heart to break
so I will choose to be with you / as if the choice were mine to make

can you say there are no mysteries in the house you choose to dwell?

he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
he's never been able to learn from mistakes
he can't understand why his heart always breaks

another inch of your life sacrificed for your brother

anything it takes to wish me here

time will come when we'll know what happened here
we learn one thing, if we learn at all
in the secret wars we call our lives
we watch the days, we make our plans
we change in ways a life demands
whatever pleasure this life may allow, I'll give you the love I have for you now
although you know and I know you know / though I swear I'll never let you go / anything can happen
if this love can happen here, anything can

all of his life, he's mastered choice

in the shadows of all I have created

I don't need to fight to prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven

what's the sense in hurting my pride?

God damn them all!
fire no guns, shed no tears

as I send all the sins from your past as a gift to your future
like a self-inflicted wound
as I wait to watch you fall from grace
you can hide your sins but not from me

she's good, a good godsend
a fully-armed angel to cover me quickly

if nothing can be done, we'll make the best of what's around

I don't know if words from me can still upset you

you were the same as me / but on your knees
I'll become what you became to me

tell me, brother, where'd you get those scars?
kick the table over, send the pieces all to hell
dark deeds and secret matters
who's reflected in the broken glass?
between the black squares and the white, there's gonna be a sacrifice tonight

you think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked
if all else fails, you can blame it on me
forgive me, father, but I'm falling in love and that's all I have for confession today

you cut me open

it's not that I'm broken, and it isn't that I bleed
where will I put my hands now?

asking only workman's wages

the sun goes down alone
you got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
a voice inside my head said 'don't look back, you can never look back'

circles in sand are washed out into the sea

can you help me unravel my latest mistake?
here in town you can tell he's been down for a while / but my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles
'there's a light at each end of this tunnel,' you shout, 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out

I know the difference between myself and my reflection / I just can't help but to wonder, which of us do you love?

finding my way back to sanity again

I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems
don't let me die here

with all the colors in the world, yours had to be blue

watch out, you might get what you're after
strange but not a stranger
fighting fire with fire

and use this chance to be heard

got down on my knees / and I pretend to pray

and then that word grew louder and louder / until it was a battle cry
all you can do is try to know who your friends are / as you head off to the war
pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light

if you call, I will answer
you think we're here to play a game of who loves more than who
it's time to make this something that is more than only fair

ten thousand years I've searched it seems and now

across the floor, dreams and shadows play

a rough stone that shines like a diamond from within me
when what you thought wouldn't break / has broken all too soon
when the sunset has entered your heart

although it's such a small light right now

I can see so much from this cold height
oh darkness my work is done
poured this bottle of light from the sun
I've shown them all that I can
tug at the seas and illumine the earth

I can't stand up for falling down

strengthen your lyre and sing the hymn of death

go to him, stay with him if you can / but be prepared to bleed

it's time I found myself totally surrounded in your circles

I can still smell you on my fingers and taste you on my breath

glass so dark they won't even know your name

every day you're in this place you're two days nearer death
there's thunder all around me and there's poison in the air
the young men like their money and they all come back for more

just call me Cleopatra, everybody, 'cause I'm the Queen of Denial

I can sing this song to everybody / and pretend it's not about you

you still have a rage inside you that you carry with a certain pride
if a vow is what it takes, haven't you paid for your mistakes?

barely waking and I'm tangled up in you

the moon is on fire

suddenly it moves with perfect grace

she sits there so refined and drinks herself half blind



ink and paper, epic offers
inside feels like there's a thunder
spellbound, you've taken me under

anonymous and undemanding, enchantment passing through

how far we are from morning

I can ride your heart 'til it breaks

run it up the flagpole and see who salutes

if there's anything to say, if there's anything to do, if there's any other way, I'd do anything for you

was this the question, pulling, pulling, pulling you?

we are but a moment's sunlight

so here I am at the end of the road
all the words have been spoken, and the prophecies fulfilled
it sure was a grand waste of time

kicking out all of the windows and setting fire to this life

twelve hundred miles and you never asked why

I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to

there's no point in direction, we cannot even choose a side
drink up, dreamers, you're running dry
in that thunder crash, you're a thousand minds within a flash
don't be afraid to cry at what you see
if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be

sometimes we still curse gravity when no one is around

things we missed that might have changed our lives

morning will come, and I'll do what's right

before we end and then begin, we'll drink a toast to how it's been

what breaches and faults are concealed

back to the place of my worst defeat

forfeit all my lives to get just one right

not everything you run to wants you
not everything you love will love you

one more starry-eyed messiah meets a violent farewell

here's to reaching higher ground

death is a mighty uniter, the defeat that comes to every fighter

my heart dances, but not for joy
it's easy to be certain that another's heart will fall / much harder to be certain of your own / it moves you and inspires you, then it drives you to the wall / and leaves you so excited but alone

she's the wave; she turns the tide

I no longer know myself, but I still know you

and you want her, and she wants you

there's a tightening in my chest; I know that I am drawn in
oh God let it not be you

damn, girl you do it well / and I thought you were innocent / you took my heart and put it through hell / still you're magnificent

carnival night, and they're stringing the lights around you
the furnace wind is a flickering of wings about your face
in a cloud of incense - yeah, it smells like heaven in this place
ghosts from every corner of your life

never again is what you swore the time before

what more in the name of love?

love a young woman who I don't understand
killed still waiting for her word
went on strangling in the solitude she preferred

like a vapor are the days we live; this is no life for the cautious

hold the light given unto you
in this broken world we choose
tell your story now, we have so much to know

to those that stand on empty shores and spit against the wind

in that fuzzy picture, the writing stands out on the wall

if that's the only place that you can leave your doubts

I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own

hard to come away with anything that feels like dignity

if I could fly across this night, faster than the speed of light

there beneath the stars I'll leave you, before you go of your own free will

dear world I'm pleased to meet you

maybe someday we will find that it wasn't really wasted time

up is what he chooses, the kisses and the bruises

time will tell of stars that fell a million years ago

the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together / but the bad news is you're gone


In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.

Character is what you are in the dark.

Maybe you have to know darkness before you can appreciate the light.

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.

Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.

One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes.

There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.