I awaken thee

With my kiss
Shall they forever
Be one with me
Dream of me, my children
As I embrace thy sorrow
And take unto myself
Thy kiss

I awaken thee

Would they hold me as I wept?
Would they dry my endless tears?
Would they kiss me as I died?
Would they love me as I am?

2. Ode To My Forthcoming Winter, Pt. 1 Spring
(Instrumental)

3. Ode To My Forthcoming Winter, Pt. 2 Summer
A gathering of tears
Embrace the divine tragedy
A chorus of saddened spirits
Echoing silently... forever

Autumn hath awakened her children

4. Ode To My Forthcoming Winter, Pt. 3 Autumn
The dying leaves soundlessly fall
The withering trees whisper of winter dreams
Thus... she shamelessly unveils herself
The silence is forever broken

Behold her blanket of darkness
Enshrouding the solemn tranquility
She becomes the earth with her kisses

The winds play their autumnal melodies
Her children sing the song of her coming
Dark formations gather in her mirth
To storm the gates of earthly bliss

5. Ode To My Forthcoming Winter, Pt. 4 Winter

Autumn hath awakened her children

I am the raging storm and gentle breeze
I am the glistening stream and earthen soil
I am the rain and the ever darkening sky
I am the velvet shadows of the night
Embrace the dreaming mystery...
Partake of my scornful bereavement

Welcome my tears

6. The Eloquent Sleep
Guided by spectral visions
They may see beyond the sleeping world
And into their silent dreams... silent dreams

Which speak in tongues
Revealing to them my presence
Carried by unconscious footsteps
I guide them to my sweet sanctum

Please forgive me
For what I hath done
My soul is but for you to take
Tears wash away my sins
My darkest hour hath come... I have arisen

Please do not leave me
Forever shall I be thine
Take me for what I shall be
And thus the beauty unveils its face
The garden shall wither and die

The myriad gather before me
To partake of my life and spirit
Only their innocence and chastity
Can purify my tainted soul

A harvest of youthful serenity
They shall find me with kisses
My undying love and youthful embrace
I give to them evermore

7. And Then The Whispering...
Gazing deeply into small eyes
Forever softly they shall speak
Whispering voices from deep within
Cries of pain for no one to hear

They shall never see beyond
Endless seasons of changing emotion
Channeled rage and hatred
Hidden behind a mask of sorrow

Haunting memories are silenced
Deeply woven into the fibers
Of a small, fragile mind
Broken only by kisses of sleep

Everlasting dreams of love
consuming the life and soul
Evolve into a new darkness
Shunned by an untrue victory

8. One Tender Kiss (The Lost Seasons) Prelude To The Garden Of Crystalline
I. Wander
Paths of unbound memories
Tangled within the inner depths of love and sorrow
Untrodden by questioning footsteps
Unbroken by deafening silence

II. See
Untended gardens of life
Washed away by rains of death
Beneath my feet, rivers of blood flow soundlessly
Seeds of anguish sown in the soil of my blackened heart

III. Remember
Ripples in the water casting distorted reflections
Over a face I shall never see again
My eternal beauty lost forever to my eyes

IV. Regret
Only to feel, to touch, to love myself again
My life, my soul, my entire existence in this dying world
In exchange for one brief moment of true happiness
All my hopes and dreams in ruin, shattered like shards of
glass...

Thus I am left to heed the wisdom of a fool
I fear no shameless victory nor welcome illustrious defeat
My loneliness ever feeding upon strands of my sanity...
As for now... I shall welcome dreams of majestic gardens

9. Carfax Abbey
Is it simply a kiss of carnal dreams?
What once a father to tender sleeplessness

The deviance of youthful whispering
A majesty to darkness, a visage... my kingdom?

My centuries laden with dead emotion
Timeless anguish beckons me
Into my sleep, the torments of dreamless kin
Give unto me a time for redemption

And even now beneath the multitude of stars

Am I to believe that I stand before god?
What pitiful illusion am I expected to see?
Shall I exist in my death, to believe in them?
As I destroy all you love, before your eyes

I bequeath unto thee my forever...

For time hath imprisoned me
Endowed with the wisdom of centuries
Yet the sorrow hath befallen me still
The chosen few are but to remain with me

United together within the stillness...
Of an age yet to come
My children of sadness, I welcome thee...
Into my arms forever

10. The Intermission
Autumn, the Beautiful:
- Is it raining, dear child,
where dost thou wander now?
Is it raining once again, or is it only thy tears?
Sweet innocence,
no longer a passion within their eyes…
Ablaze with thy fury
of denial and tainted dreams.
Chorus:
…now see what lies beneath this mask.
Benevolence Unmasked:
Why do these gentle teardrops endlessly mock me?
The pureness of simplicity
as my only true companion.
For it shall be there for me always;
even when I am no more.
This, a paradise for fools,
stained black with tears of blood.
from mine eyes so empty
Their glimmer hath faded with the sullen
kiss and piercing caress of a century.
Oh, how this mirror lies to me!…
Autumn, the Beautiful:
…the voices that haunt us evermore only this euphoria of
suffering remains.
Wisdom:
In silence I scream out for one existence; faithless wanderers
as my children take not from me this image of frailty, but give
unto a glimpse of the beauty lost beneath the scars upon my
faith and my freedom, my passion, my pain.

...and there is but one last chapter left to be written...