Mother Willow (Abstractions - Screech)

Mother Willow

Mother Willow…

Don't weep for me,

Mother Willow…

Would you keep a leaf,

A little bit of shade,

In the blazing summer sun.

So I may rest,

For when I give up another run.

I’ve learned…

I'm aware of what I gained.

The knowledge, it burns…

It sears its way into my brain.

Oh, Mother Willow…

I know what I've lost.

Through the lust, the greed, the fear…

I've betrayed my trust.

My dear child,

It is not too late to stop,

Made your peace with your wars,

But I am afraid you have not.

We are creatures of habit,

You are looking for a hand,

I am afraid I do not have it,

But I will give you my strength.

You can rest beneath my canopy,

I will protect you from the sun,

Stay here as long as you want,

Till you are ready to get back on the road,

Looking to set yourself free.

Mother willow…

What’s my destiny?

Staying afloat in the stratosphere,

Or speaking to a sad machine?

Mother willow…

You've seen many years,

Seen the present and the has beens,

Do you recognize these fears?

Mother willow…

I see shadows, I see silhouettes,

I'm scared of what they'll expect,

I see people put up their fence,

I see paths that don't make sense.

Why don’t they walk these roads?

Why are they so lost on their own?

Mother willow…

How do they stay insane?

Why do they not face their pain?

Why do they run from the blame?

How do they keep doing the same thing over and over again?

My dear child,

Worry not about the shadows,

They are as lost as you are.

They have their own wars,

Their own pasts, their own reasons,

They will find their way through the wild.

I know the fears of which you speak,

I have seen them all through the seasons,

Do not fight the fear, child,

Push through to the other side.

Be who you want to be,

Your destiny is what you make it,

Once you break through the levee.

If you ever feel broken,

Or you ever feel alone,

My roots have always been here,

And shall remain forevermore.

Mother willow…

Is being in the darkness wrong?

I've stayed in it too long,

Is it right to want to stay?

I know my way around,

But I fear I'm led astray.

I'm confused,

I'm lost in a lot of thoughts,

I've been fighting forever,

All these battles that I've fought,

Have they all been for naught?

How can I be sure of what is what?

My child,

The darkness is part of life,

You can stay there as long as you want,

But know the way out, should you change your mind,

Being lost is a dangerous find.

Do not let your thoughts bring you lower,

Your confusion says that you need to go slower,

The depths of your soul will lead you to the cliffs of Dover,

Just let yourself be, you will find your clover.

You will have to fight, dear child,

War is eternal, it is always nigh,

Ash darkens the days, fires brighten the night,

Remember to remember how you learned to fight.

As you grow older, you grow wiser,

You know truths, and you will know lies,

The waves fall, and the snows rise,

You will learn how to see through disguise,

Do not fret, it is a tale as old as time.

Mother willow...

I don’t sleep,

I don’t speak,

I don’t know how I’ve become this weak.

I used to know,

I used to be,

Now I’m lost searching for the power in me.

I remember right, I remember wrong,

I used to remember every single song.

But now I just write,

I just let it go on.

I don’t remember how I used to be strong.

Oh child,

You have grown.

Do you remember everything that you own?

There is no need to know,

You can learn and take a bow.

Take a knee, but do not bend,

Learn from your beloved reverend.

Forever you must go,

Time does not stop its flow,

Do not stop, or you may forget,

Keep singing along,

But keep your rhythm in check,

Let your mind wander,

But keep your feet on the ground.

Mother willow…

I feel very low.

Sleep envelops me,

I’ve nowhere to go.

Sweet child of mine,

Let your dreams be free,

My shadow will protect you,

Come, rest beneath my canopy...

Years (Abstractions - Screech)

YEARS

Years go by,

I haven't wasted any,

I've just waited many,

Theory crafting every nuance,

But feeling it is something else.

I don't have the words,

So far I've heard,

I've seen and I've said,

But being there is something else.

I know where I am,

I don't know what I'm doing,

But, that's okay.

I made it this far,

I don't know where I'm going,

But I'm here today,

It's gotta count for something.

Percussion and precautions,

Drums and decoctions.

Raging and riding,

Wronging and writing.

Flowing and firing,

Fondling and fighting.

My hands are tied, my hands are rough,

My hands have seen days when the going was tough.

My hands have been my strength,

They have been my friends.

But my hands have done things in life,

My hands have made me regret.

I've had close encounters of the third base,

I've had fires that screamed into my face,

I've had people tell me I've been misplaced,

I've had wars and peace with my own ways,

I've had it all taken away, just in case.

I've had silence that seems deafening,

I've had zones that seem threatening,

I've had anomalies that flayed my head,

I've had atrocities that plagued my bed,

Made me see red,

Despite how much I begged,

I couldn't stop the spread,

Jumped into the void instead.

I've had them depend on me,

I've seen them pretend to not see,

I've heard them claim their rise to fame,

I've known them too well to let them fail.

I've been there when they fell,

I've saved them from horrors I won't tell,

I've made them live, and lived to write the tale.

I've shifted shapes, they've drifted away,

I've mixed them tapes, they've fixed their gaze,

I've sewn them capes, they've shown their face.

I've trapped my being, inside my brain,

I've not used me, until absolute necessity,

I've held myself off, to not cause pain,

It just hurts the ones around me.

But...

I'm off the hook, I've been let off the chain,

I'm off the leash, I've broken out of the cage.

Let's see how far I can take this,

Make sure to not mistake it,

There's no "fake it till I make it".

Way out of this world, an isolated alien,

Ripley ain't got shit on yours truly,

Believe it or not,

I've been in the game for far too long,

It's boring to be normal,

So formal it's informal,

Like a fuel drinking inferno,

A glitch like the missingNO,

I'm silly, it's a way to let off the smoke.

My words speak louder than my actions,

It hurts me when I'm divided by fractions,

It's high risk with higher transactions,

Sometimes I don't get what I give.

It's crazy as to how long it took,

But time is subjective,

Nothing's by the book.

Me? I'm a crook.

Switch places with the rook,

Gambles and Gambits,

I don't even need to look.

Birds of a feather,

Collectively strive to be different,

They write letters,

When they can just hit send,

They talk about the weather,

When the world's about to end.

Mellotrons scratching,

Piano lessons dragging,

Cold winds biting,

While I sit here laughing,

Knowing everything,

I keep on playing,

I don't think they realize,

Whatever's going on is more than gaming.

Nobody cares, nobody knows,

Nobody has to, I do quite well on my own.

Bah, I'll care when one is two,

Or two are one, that would be fun.

For now, let me enjoy this life,

For too long I've had nothing to do,

I've been locked up inside,

Finally free, I'm not waiting around,

Stabbed and stitched, I'm not bleeding out.

Burn the cuts, seal them shut.

Twist the sprains, re-lock dislocations in place.

Suture the wounds, clean the bullet holes.

Keep one in the chamber,

For when it gets too cold.

Lick the blood off my lips,

Reset my nose, eyes set to kill.

My head is my own,

I can read all of this,

Nobody comes close,

Not this time, not nor never again.

Just Another Night (Abstractions - Screech)

Just Another Night

It's just another night,

Sleepless, breathless,

Still trying hard to keep alive,

Keeping up the fight.

I know I'm gonna fall,

End it all,

Smash my head against the wall,

My court is full of balls,

That I'm never gonna hit back.

Closure is how I keep track.

I don't think I deserve this,

Does it matter?

It doesn't, I don't think,

No, wait, I do,

Here comes another thought.

Tearing me apart,

Building these worlds with no substance,

Out of thin air and no sustenance.

Break me, shatter these dreams,

Help me fill sound in these inaudible screams,

Nobody is as fucked up as me.

How can they even forgive me?

I should be cast out, imprisoned,

I should be serving a sentence.

Guess I am,

I'm living with the pain,

It's killing my brain.

I never had the chance to choose,

I got nothing to gain,

Nothing to lose.

Feel like I've always done wrong,

That's right, nothing right,

Left with what ifs and what not,

Still I fight,

Find different ways to sing the same song.

I know me, no one else,

They just stop making sense.

Nobody looks within,

They look out,

Without sparing expense,

Living in the present tense,

Digging up to resentment,

Not knowing anything,

Just spending to end up spent.

Batteries running low,

Engines running on fumes,

Unsure of where to go,

Tunneling through the walls of rooms,

Turning out to be mazes,

Splitting lanes doesn't work on these roads.

Knowing, preaching, teaching my ways,

But not following my rules,

Unsure of what to do,

Scared of the unknown faces.

Sounds annoy me,

Words destroy me,

Minds tear me apart,

Rip me in two,

Two weeks and they ran away.

Wound me up like toy,

Captivated in captivity,

Slave to one Helen of Troy,

God damn it, you fool,

I was just a little boy.

Died enroute to a place that I could call home,

It couldn't even be the real McCoy.

My oh my,

Turns out I was living a real lie,

Everyone in my life is a spy,

No, I'm not paranoid,

I'm just trying,

To understand whether I'm falling or flying.

Pleading with agony,

To leave me for nobody else,

Vaporize into the atmosphere,

Never rain down, instead, forget itself,

And hopefully end up dying,

No fear.

No sleep, I just end up being anxious,

Forgive me if I seem rambunctious.

Can't breathe, I'm not worth the high shelf,

Dive too deep, I feel I'm drowning myself.

Split three ways, these headaches from hell,

Mind, heart, soul, never in harmony,

I'm out of my mind, you can't tell,

Shot through the heart, and I'm too late,

Soul taken by Satan, lucky me,

I'm poisoned by food I put on my plate.

Can't pick up where I left off,

No lengths I can go to,

Nowhere to run, brush the dust off,

Get up and get a move on,

No strength, nothing left to do.

Life plays out like a motion picture,

No ways to an end, nothing reborn,

Frequently fed fatal elixir,

Can't stop, too many pieces to move.

What's wrong with wanting?

God knows, I'm waiting for my doom.

Lost my focus,

I used to be strong, used to be smart,

I've given in to everything I hated,

I'm broken and still hell bent,

Slowed down almost to a halt,

One thousand hours I've waited,

Seems solitude and solace are godsent.

Legends of old seem to show the way,

As I lay dying in my own grave,

That I dug with my bare hands,

Like a dog, I bark in infrasounds.

It's been ruff, I swear,

Protest the behaviour,

An unwelcome saviour,

My verses are nefarious,

Of peaces and wars like Varius.

Let it be,

It's just another night,

I'm sure there will be an answer.

I've achieved ascension,

Or so I concur,

I've demystified apprehension,

And tried to see.

Let it go,

It's just another light,

I'm sure there will be more,

Shining brighter than before,

I've achieved a bliss,

I believe so,

Here's cheers,

To the shots that I've missed.