"Transience" lyrics

Visions envelop us warm and dear
Afflictions nurtured, unfathomable depths
Its art form leaves us sullied, smitten
Born from our mortality
Brushes stroke sanity never so gentle
Lost; deranged in a crippled mind
Scratching the surface – nuance denied
Devoid of spectrum – here we are blind
Worlds bare and stricken (beckon me)
Fears beyond counting (lost within)
Trapped in the core of our sanctum
Tell me, where is the purpose?
Lost in the half-lives once spent
On fading memories and times that never were

By nature this hellhole will persist
Fed far too long – now festers within
This part of me that is not me
Yet without which I'd cease to be
Nightmares consume, futures unfold
How could we rest with such stories untold?
We may be mere human; from what we have seen
Beyond this vessel there are worlds between

Behold, as I watch from the shadows
A stranger looks back from far away realms
An altogether different hue
Surrounded by maelstroms of wistful tunes
I am locked in an aura of dissonant chords
Hear them die on the searing winds
Caressing hands they sculpt a resonating void
Familiar whispers and mocking throats
Mimicking the unsung vowels flowing from the heart
A counterweight here made flesh
Where time fleets and seeps in a purgatory of meaning and structure
Forever lost within and without, through the nothing and nowhere

Harnessing the madness I swore would be the end of me
Turned ashes into glory to last beyond my time
Striving for perfection I turned the very stars
Still it's not enough – forever unfulfilled

Trudging through the path, step by torturous step
Insight waits for me; emptiness made real

No sight, no senses, no feelings, no more

Climax closes in
Buried underneath – all that should have been
The guilt of non-creation
Grueling is the search for the master's piece
Ever so slightly out of reach
Mournful statues wail; empty sockets judge
"Father, why have you denied us eyes?"

The past is but a fading shroud
Now let go and stride with sure step through these halls
Visions struck me blind - I have no need for eyes
Here I am the one who dreams the way
Enigma at the end of all
A sapphire cruel, so radiant and vast
As I reach out to touch it crumbles, as do I
I am reborn and closer to my transience