Walk a tightrope carefully
Don’t be bold
Feel the wire beneath your feet
Don’t lose control

Dance between the bullets of life and death
Chance the danger — a whispered breath
Adrenaline rise —
See it in your eyes
Experience the heat
Of inevitable defeat

It’s a fine line
Between being a hero
And being a memory
Be courageous
Don’t be blind
Take responsibility
Foolishness will take you to a lonely time
When they remember you as a hero who crossed the line

Survival is a fancy name
For staying alive
It’s important to know
Just when to take a dive

There’s no need to prove yourself to everyone
Always daring — it just can’t be done
Burn your phony guise
With the fire in your eyes —
Bravery doesn’t fit you
When you’re through

(part 1 of Survival)

I The Preparation

The mote is filled
And the drawbridge tight —
Their weapons are their tools
For survival
For the Guardians of the fortress
Prepare to defend themselves
Against a hungry pack
Of wolves

The clouds come rolling in
Death watches with a grin…

Fear and Courage
Partners in a lonely quest for more
Their strategy is fate
Live by the sword, die by the sword

II The Empire

The Imperial leaders ponder
A hopeless way around it
Their tyranny’s caught up with
Them at last
Power wasn’t everything
They always wanted more
So now their flags flutter at half-mast

The rebels flow over the hill
With sharpened blades for the kill…

Fear and Hope
Foes in this grotesque display of greed
Time stands still
By the sword they live, by the sword they bleed…

Epilogue

The battle’s ended
The rebels are dead
The fortress had withstood
The tremendous strain
But another force is coming
And there will always be one more
Until the Empire’s suffered its greatest
Pain…

Part 1

Greater than infinity
Larger than the sky
Within the hardened hearts of steel
The feeling you can’t hide

Conscious of those staring eyes
Looking in from the dark
Makes your hair stand up on end
As the fear you have sets in

Fear’s part of the darkness
That keeps you on your toes
The part of the darkness
The darkness you don’t know

Set the stage for imagination
As you encounter new sensations
With widened eyes and much demise
You have unseen relations

Beyond the realms of sanity
And blind courageous acts
Heartbeat quickened in an effort to
Discern fiction from fact…

Part 2

Look into the eyes of darkness
Waiting to possess
Tragedy presumed as myth
Another victim is the fifth this year

Annihilation and destruction
And nothing less
But all shall hold such things as lies
And turn their heads when they hear cries of fear

It’s a part of the darkness
Which must be destroyed
A part of the darkness
Which cannot be enjoyed,
It must be stopped

Be careful, watch your step
But don’t look back
Just keep on moving all the time
And never stop to look behind the trees

Darkness surrounds your mind
It knows your fears
You’ll spend everyday secluded
When you find your dreams concluded in Chinese…

Phantom lights
Distorted nights
Fighting the dream beyond
Shades of white
Transposed delight
Fading on and on and on…

Underneath the darkness
Parallel with time
In between time —
Ever-expanding
Beyond reason
Beyond time

Denying physical reason
Confusing emotional seasons
It can take you for a spin
And you won’t know where you’ve been
Mind in reverse
Mind imprisoned
Alternate universe

Constant sea
Galactic breeze
Fighting the storm ahead
Fade to black
Off the beaten track
Sailing on and on and on…

Caught in the darkness
Exposed to the light
In between light
Ever-confined
In time
Beyond time

We imagine what it’s like
To be somewhere else
When we don’t like where we are
We imagine what it’s like
To be someone else
When we don’t like who we are…

(part 2 of Survival)

Tomorrow’s soldier
In the evening of a coming day
Fighting for freedom
He knows there’s got to be a better way
But he knows he’s got to get away

But there’s nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Nowhere to be afraid
No time for fun
No time for pride
On the edge of the blade

It’s burning inside him
He knows he’s got to stop and fight
But on this cold night
Survival means flight
That’s the best thing for Tomorrow’s Knight

Cold-blooded killers
Obeying orders to hunt him down
But in their hearts
There was something that they had found

They couldn’t kill him
They never could
For he was once their friend
But they could help him
And this they would
Allies until the end…

1
Life and Death
Share the same breath
Of each succeeding day
Courage and fears
Smiles and tears
Molded from similar clay

Reality
Lost in tranquility
Infinity

Patience may die
With temper increased
But spirits will fly
When the shame is released

The Balance of the Universe
Keeps everything in place
Maintains a common space
And preserves the unity
At a steadfast, even pace

2
To love or hate
Freewill or fate
Or just some Wizard’s scheme
One and all
Fly and fall
In a silent, forgotten dream

Action
Promotes a reaction
Satisfaction

The heart and mind
Will unite finally
As the ground and the sky
Drown in the sea

The Balance of the Universe
Keeps everything in place
Maintains a common space
And keeps alive the unity
Leaving no evident trace

And when the world is calm and still
And everything is warm
Somewhere else in the Universe
A new world is transformed…

In the light of the moon
He watches me
With distant eyes
I know who he is
But I can’t see his face
He needs no disguise

The stranger calls to me
And says I must go with him
But I tell him he’ll just have to wait
Not yet shall I give in

“There are some things that I must do
Before I travel with you…”

I tried to explain
That I wasn’t through
But all he said
Was, “Life is too short to
Do what you can
To get ahead.”

The stranger calls to me
But this time I go along
I have no fear that he is near
But I wonder which road we’re on…

Everything hangs deathly by the wire
Waiting for a burst of wind to blow it from its lair
And send it tumbling out into an anxious air

Trembling at the thought of disturbance
Waiting for peace to rear its ugly head
On the edge —
With just enough courage to stay there

The fear of falling keeps it all in place
Letting go leads straight to uncertainty
Holding on leads straight to insanity
On the cutting edge of a sharpened blade is the place to be
To insure the heightened levels of anxiety
Any sudden move can cost you

All around us time stands still
Looking for a reason to jump into conscious play
And send us tumbling out every which way

Trembling at the thought of awareness
Knowing the pressure will soon take its toll
Nowhere to hide —
Hoping someone will take you away

The fear of falling keeps it in place
The tighter the grip the less chance you’ll fall
But the greater the chance you’ll lose it all
On the cutting edge of a sharpened blade is the place to be

Have faith — don’t be afraid of the change
Look up — see what’s ahead of you
You see, it just takes one to make a dream come true

A sudden move can set you free
Or cast you from the family tree
But you have to disengage
Before you can turn the page…

He walks with pride this gallant man
His boots are stained with blood
He leaves behind with every step
The cries of pain and death

He has a job that he does well
With sorrow he succeeds
But goes on to light again
The flame that melts his soul

His sword’s a very mighty brush
Used to paint things red
With this he paints the homicides
Which occur without much thought

He rides a quite majestic steed
Which seems not to protest
The fact that he will gallop on
To fall amongst the weeds

Together they will scale cliffs
And walk along each shore
To play a game with other men
Who also hate to lose

The two of them will not survive
To see the sun come up
But in their hearts they know for sure
Their time is overdue

This gallant man who walks with pride
Whose boots are red with blood
Shall lay at rest beside his steed
Together in the weeds…

A wise old man from another age
Told me of passion, fear and rage
He gave advice, I lent my ear
In my head he seems so near

It all seems so long ago
To me his life he did bestow
Given this I must survive
To keep alive his soul mind

Wise old man
Where are you now
Wise old man
Don’t let me down
I know you’re here
Rise up from the sands
Come help me please
My dear old man

This wise old man has taught me well
Upon his wisdom I will dwell
I dropped my weapons — sheath and sword
To mend my Heart and heal the sores

I march forward — head up high
Outside a fortress, inside a sigh
I’ll see the world to its own end
Oh give me strength, I must defend…