Aephanemer - Prokopton (2019)

Why leaving on this day
A good reason to run away
Starting a crusade on a fraud
On behalf of a paltry cause

Pretending to be the right one
Eager to win the bet
Confident to become
Who we cannot be yet

Drifting away from our home
Tossed back and forth among the woes
Shifting our way to escape
Feeling alien to a chosen fate

Answering riddles in the dark
A dangerous lair to scout
Diving deep for a tiny spark
To find a path through our greatest doubts

Waking on a stranger shore
Exhausted by years of war
Caught unprepared by the swirl
Of the torments of the return

Good fellows to leave behind
Wrong beliefs to cast aside
Thwarting headwinds and evil traps
Left absolutely alone and finally back

Nothing else than a sum
Of appetite and distaste
Kneaded with emotions
But a freewill to embrace

An ethics still to craft
Slumbering or awake
Ever-improving draft
Or degenerated fake

Homecoming at last
Finally found a way
No longer an outcast
Changed and yet the same

There and back again
A narrowing swirl
From the unknown to oneself
An eternal return

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Spawn of Earth, heir to the bane
What is worth such suffering and pain?
Land is flayed under foolish dominion
Untold slaves consigned to oblivion

They're despised while plunged in despair
Hubris claims each day a growing share
Do you feel cut off from this world?
When you weep for countless dying herds

First do no harm
Never be ashamed of having a kind heart
Then rise to height
Take a view from above where the prospect is bright

From the sea of cosmic time and space
All the boundaries wane and the differences fade
A unit within an army
One vessel among many

Walls were built to justify the wrong
But distinction is about to decline
We're kin of all whose fate is to evolve
The last offsprings of a single bloodline

Can you feel this breeze of anarchy?
While the madness spreads just as the blood runs
The uprising of a new humanity
Breaking old rules and binding new ones

Sink back down
Cleverness is a gift we're wearing like a crown
Now play your part
Remember adapting is the purpose of being smart

Nothing seems to improve through our tiny lifespan
But history is on move, the quickening began
Behaviours go viral within the web of lives
Some people strive towards better times

Walls were built to justify the wrong
But distinction is about to decline
We're kin of all whose fate is to evolve
The last offsprings of a single bloodline

If the ruin do fall upon us all
Still remains the choice of our deeds right in the here and now

Walls were built to exploit overmuch
But extinction is at the end of the line
Our misdeeds might backfire on us
For the living is deeply intertwined

Can't you feel this need for empathy?
While the madness threatens to take it all
If we lay down our old burden of vanity
We'll regain our place in the whole

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Now there's nothing but this blade
All my time left I'll dedicate
To master the Way of the Sword

I vow to live under its law
I serve virtue, no other lord
Not two, but only one way

Since the day I have reborn
I rely on the Art of War
As a means to train the mind

I must beware of too much pride
And be aware of my weak sides
A high goal is a two-edged sword

Time to fight, no backing down
For I will have no rest until my skill prevails
Disembodied, a whistling sound
The singing of my blade ravages the plain

Back to a state of mindfulness
Crows have a feast of ronin's flesh
Through weary eyes clouded by blood
I'm sobering up

I feel split and out of tune
My spirit unable to rule
Did I outwardly succeed
To suffer an inner defeat?

Here I am, brittle and tense
Still on guard against myself
At the edge of a breaking down

I need to find a subtle tone
A keen balance to daily hone
Between firmness and leeway to move

Two swords combined
Hostile and bare
One smeared with blood and the other unstained

Two streaks of light
Flashing in the air
Back and forth, like pine needles joined in a cruel carnage

I feel split and out of tune
My spirit unable to rule
Did I outwardly succeed
To suffer an inner defeat?

Winding path to self-control
Brushing up against my goal
The True Way remains unrevealed
How to connect intent and deeds

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Delusion or
Worth my lifetime
How would I deem what I lived for
If I should die?

The toil must be done
Days are passing by
But tomorrow might be the last one
And I shall die

A habit is for us to deny
Spinning a web of silver lies
To hide the many agonies
All around us, for every being

We seem happier reduced by hunger
Flattering ourselves to be starved
Utterly craving for all that lies beyond our grasp

On the path of darkness and desire
A sweet scent of extinguished fire

We're getting worse, eager to curse
Not the curtain, but what's behind
Intoxicated within the smell of humankind

Today should be like every remaining day
Definitely all that I ask for
Whatever the moment when I’ll go away
That does not change anything at all

Happiness is complete in the here and now
It will not increase with a longer time
No other place but where I'm sitting down
This one quiet throne that I recognize as mine

A busy life and good relations
Just like everybody else
Meeting these people’s expectations
Worrying about judgments

But in my chest this acute pain
This unusual taste in my mouth
And all that counted now seems vain
Suddenly overwhelmed by doubt

I cannot be struck by these throes
With all my feelings and my thoughts
It would be too much awful woes
That my efforts had been for naught

On the chase of dreams and their demise
A sense of nonsense in disguise

This is not fair, we cannot bear
Yet another kind of torment
So disappointed, in absolute bewilderment

Today should be like every remaining day
Definitely all that I ask for
Whatever the moment when I’ll go away
That does not change anything at all

Happiness is complete in the here and now
It will not increase with a longer time
No other place but where I'm sitting down
This one quiet throne that I recognize as mine

Maybe it is going to take me nowhere
But I reckon not having to go anywhere
I don’t keep any illusion to hold dear
I just need to be ready to disappear

Void comes from the self alone
Fear from what we believe we own
Stoics across time give an advice
May death be daily before our eyes

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Rise up disciple from a far-off land
Time to get under way
Toward wisdom of yore, keep close at hand
Those who teach you how to never go astray

Brooding over for too long, behind
Your bared clenched teeth
For your misfortunes you blame the outside
Inwardly starting to seethe

Deem yourself worthy at last
To improve rather than dwell on the past
For what other master than you
Do you wait for a change of view?

Now is the fight! Just right here!
It can be won using the relevant gear
Pay attention anytime
To all the waves of your mind

Soon we'll feed the worms
Thus the truth will be fully learned
Daily deeds are truly owned
All the rest merely borrowed

A new daybreak, let's join them
The festival begins again
Endure all turmoil and noise
Take your share of soothing joys

Left alone with your thoughts
As you close your tired eyes
Escaping at least some faults
Is good enough for the one who tries

Now is the fight! Just right here!
It can be won using the relevant gear
Pay attention anytime
To all the waves of your mind

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The tempest blows a dazzling white
The peak vanishes again
Whirling blasts of snow benight
The outcome of my ascent

Grit your teeth, do not flinch
At setbacks that slow you down
Going forth, inch by inch
To keep your feet on the ground

A sudden noise of flapping wings
First sign of the coming swarm
Somber curses were residing
In the eye of the storm

Manic claws tear the sky
Looming above my head
Chthonic calls, bloodshot eyes
Summoning me to them

Desperate crawl through blizzard squalls
Hounded by eerie shapes
A hail of stings ruthlessly falls
Onto my dire escape

The storm birds rush cannot be shunned
There is no way to cope
It's too much hardships to overcome
I fall and hurtle down the slope

Grim lull while being drowned
As I sink into the ground
Numb and coated by hoar-frost
I dread to think that all is lost

The harpy's laugh
Twisted inhuman face
Utters cries of disgrace

The fury's torch
Melts the surrounding snow
And clears the path to follow

Swift ravenous fiends
Foul everything that once mattered to me
Plunder the drifting wreck of my mind
I only want to forget and go blind

Sisters born from the Night
Jailers of the insane
Rage is our only light
Let’s put the rest to the flame

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Always over hill and dale
A wanderer walking in strides
Restlessly hitting the trail
On the dark or the sunny side

Keeping on a steady pace
Without leaving any trace
Used to nature of progress
A lot of well directed steps

Haunting the fields and the woods
Rather than the doors of men
Attending to his own moods
As a wilderness denizen

With a feeling soon renewed
Kind of withered over time
A severed stem far from its roots
Though blooming during his climb

Creeping in, the cold
Invades his inner stronghold

The icy quiver running through his bones
Reminds him suddenly that he was gone
For way too long
Too far, alone

Wherever this one is traveling
Welcomed, expected or despised
By a fireside or a chilling wind
Even-tempered, such is the wise

Not a beggar, to stay when spurned
He can't be drawn in any strife
And never got his fingers burned
By possessions, such is his life

Good-natured like the stray cat
A sense of gratitude for his beloved independence
When done with society, he’s taking a step back
Just goes off quietly somewhere by himself

Surveyor of human soul
Monarch of lands that lies fallow
Honored of all he must not do against his will
And rich with all that he can afford to drop out of his hands

Most rewards are expensively sold
For attendance, curtsies and praise
Most properties are not worth this pile of gold
Gauged in time, measured in precious days

Growing, the annoyance
Abrades his inner balance

The many frictions disturbing his mind
Weaken his detachment, strengthen his view
To stay aloof
From humankind

Wherever this one is traveling
Welcomed, expected or despised
By a fireside or a chilling wind
Even-tempered, such is the wise

Not a beggar, to stay when spurned
He can't be drawn in any strife
And never got his fingers burned
By possessions, such is his life

Good-natured like the stray cat
A sense of gratitude for his beloved independence
When done with society, he’s taking a step back
Just goes off quietly somewhere by himself

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