prologue  
chapter one ~ a portrait of the artist as a young man 
chapter two ~ music 
chapter three ~ every life is a film with a soundtrack 
chapter four ~ the pen is mighter with the sword 

rearranging 
when this came crashing | did you know it would be another me? | it's quite disturbing | to think you'd fail to see | another me || this may look like (look like) | all the others you've seen | but i am in it | and things are changing | my Spirit moves and | the world's rearranging 

for those who are weak and heavy laden 
close your sad eyes | let me kiss your scars | my love | heals your broken, heavy heart || they have told you i do not cry | but your tears break me, my broken bride || listen, my son | rest still, don't say anything | as i sing | these sweet words over you || you don't have to earn my love | i have given it to you, son | lay your hammer down by your side | it was finished when he died ||| jesus loves me, this i know... 

rest 
rest, my soul | the Lord is good | rest, my soul | he has dealt with you || come all who are weak | and he will give you rest | rest for your heavy souls | come all you are weak | and he will give you rest | rest for your weary souls ||| life is heavy | but jesus cares for you | life is so heavy | but jesus cares for you | rest, rest | jesus cares for you | rest soul, rest | jesus cares for you 

progress 
it's much too cold | to be without his love | when stones won't break | sweet words fall to the ground || it's in my head, it's in my ear | all you've ever hoped that you would hear | but i am just a voice crying out | :the Lord is come | let earth receive her King: 

intently 
you don't want to listen to me | is that a reason to stop speaking? | when words won't work, maybe blood will | house fires, crashing airplanes | broken lives and broken children | it's not my hand but it is your home || it's far from you to pretend to | listen intently to me when | sweet words drip from my lips just | to gather at your feet ||| was it over in the first inning for us? 

breaking up is hard to do 
look into my eyes when you say to me | :i want to be far away: | i've resigned to stay at bay | while you drown at sea as you walk away || you don't love me like that anymore | i never loved you like that || you are so busy, occupied with life | i am busy dying

ring like bells 
brush the clouds from the eyes that cry for me | so i can see them as i bleed | my breaking heart reminds of every crease that's in your smile | every line that slipped from mind || i remember all the things you said to me | your sweet words ring like bells in my ears || when i look at you i see in the reflection in your eyes | all i tried so hard to hide 

she laughs in shadows 
speak to me from across the table | you're hard to see through the cloud of syllables || she grows in darkness | she laughs in shadows | she sits in silence | and waits to turn on us || i've drawn these circles to keep you away | words have made us ill at ease, but please speak to me ||| jesus, change my thoughts | when my thoughts are sick | so we can find the center | because we're always sick | and we all need the center 

words in my mouth 
i'm waiting by the phone | cold on the couch | it's not her voice i miss | any voice will do | if the old are alone i'm old | it seems the cast flew south | and i'm left standing on the stage | in monologue | i wish her voice was mine to miss | but any voice will do | as long as outside of me there is you || it all comes down to the words in my mouth 

a.m. 
between the metro and the office | lie five blocks of token metropolis street | every day at 7:14AM | the man framed in the newsstand says :hello: to me || still the beast gives chase from my apartment | with the masses on the transit i'm alone | i bought his smile with two editions of the :times: | and now i can't get it off my mind || the hounds are lank and lean | there's anger in their bright-eyed stare | conditioned well to take any intruder in my space | and those who fly over closed military air || bloody heals run from the beast behind | the miles close quick with anticipation | i bought his smile with two editions of the :times: | and now i can't get it off my mind ||| the AM was hard today 

elisha's body gave the dead men life 
yesterday we traded | old wounds for fresh earth | in between we sold our days | for something much less their worth | december will have to serve | as our sufficient :goodbye: | still your words, they have me thinking | your heart long before you died || you've three post-mortem miracles and a place in the parade of saints | there's suture in your funeral and closure in st. peter's gates || when the men grow faint from battle | retreat is as sweet as peace | my mind is tired of fighting | and silence sets my heart at ease | we both knew | forgiveness our circumstance would change | but this reticent resolution | is welcomed anyway ||| our hands are down | you look fine in your wedding gown | our hands are down | yeah, it's all over now 

curse the weatherman  

the saga of mankind
between tonight and the next | i'll survey the skies for the context | of our empires & temples collapsed | of our compass & misprinted maps | society pirouettes on command | by some dark hand in the heart of man | and as from the glass he walks away | mankind forgets his face || we're fading away | a people tattered and frayed | we're fading away | as the tower moves out of range || with every tune it's apparent to me | that our soundtrack is in a minor key | 

throw the equation, mr. man  
i knew a kid who dug a hole | with the neighbor next door | though his yard was green it was all he'd seen | and china sounded neat | no harm, no foul - it's over now || he just wanted to leave | he wasn't concerned | with a graceful exit | or the bridges he'd burn | the bridges he'd burn | though it hurts i guess sometimes you have to live to learn || i thought his mom would flip her lid | she smiled instead and said | :remember, he's just a kid | when he returns from his trip i'll have him fill his hole and then | it'll be right as rain | all will be good as gold: ||| maybe this is the right time to say | even i feel like digging holes some days | though i long to go outside | i've played in my neighbors' yard | and i prefer mine  

shade and autumn air

long distance

wrought  
social deities are crying for their dues | in the last town i left the dust with my old shoes | i don't know what it means to live here anymore | i'll try my hardest not to fall apart at your door || i called your number yesterday | and this is all you had to say | :hello, i'm not in right now | i'll get back to you when i get back to my senses: || you know it makes me crazy when you're so far away | i need a hand to hold, the scene i'm in is fading grey | i could drive a state's length in four hours flat | it wouldn't make much difference | tomorrow'd just pull me back ||| what God breaks he builds | beyond the reach of mortal man | calvary failed to bear our names | yet the price remains the same | now his scars are wrought in our hands  

tradition's storm   
tradition's storm blew through my town | my whitewashed steeple came crashing down | beneath this skin despair set in | me, my cold facade, it fell around || but when i look at you i see | a picture of peace smiling back at me | and i know the truth would set me free | if i'd only believe ||| when this world blows up in my face | you're the lace of God's good grace | there's nothing left | there's nothing left, no | there's nothing left to hold on to | except you ||| the remainder of my identity | is tied deep withing calvary's tree | i take this crown and i lay it down | i only want you, jesus, to be seen in me  

phillip's variety store  
:i don't suppose kids are wearing these anymore | everything we carry is a size too small (or a little more): | the local mid-day gospel show is droning on with its dreariness on the radio | she had a cousin that never left thirty miles of her house | and i wonder how much time this lady spends behind these doors || beneath the dust there's a melodrama here | you can find all you need and more | at phillip's variety store || papa didn't say much when times got tough | the bullet they bit bit him back and that's that | arson or devilment, the cream of the stock goes to the town stores | their uppercut is our undercut | i can smell the smoke again | this life is a major production | it's a tale told by the heart | we miss our cues, we miss our lines, and sometimes | we mistake major roles for bit parts  

make me in your image  
how many times have i told you of how i've fallen away? | it just gets old, this growing cold || but i want to fall in love | i want to fall in love with you, with you ||| make me in your image | breathe life into this stone | make me in your image | i long to see your face in this gilded flesh and bone ||| indeed, it all grows dim | in the light of your glory, the light of your love | if I left it all, if i left my home | your only obstacle, i'd stand alone  

bound to bleed  
you know it hurt me to watch you walk away | when i knew you the world was still at bay | where did we fall, where did we fall down? | when you're seated on the highest place it's a long fall to the ground || i am bound | i'm bound to bleed | when the one i hold most dear is not | the one who bled for me || we set sail with constellations in our eyes | but somewhere mid-trip we found our maps unsynchrenized | how can we set this boat on separate shores? | jesus, help me tread this water because i know i'm going overboard  

deeper than last  
deeper than last | does not equate deepest | split me open | what's my condition? | i want to be taken where i cannot stray || i want to be you | i want to be all you are || this is beautiful: | to find myself in someone else  

reminisce  
it's not raining today | why is it sleepy anyway? | old man, won't you go to bed | why do you hide, cover your head | when it starts coming down? || why does it have to be | that i remember the day | when you ran after me | did i fly away | or did you just stop running? || this act is short a role | (or two or three or four) | they left with their costumes on | casualties of this war | did they forget the rain that fell from above | to heal their wounds?  my love is their lifeblood | look up, it's coming down  

i fell among the fallen  
i fell among the fallen | i'm red and ripe and rotten | i hide within translucent skin | a true-born child of sodom || i hold aloft these innards ehud let out | this arsenic in my arm makes me ill at all i am || this shell of all that's sacred | is my sacrifice stripped naked | a bitter ego within, i long to begin again | my crass colors kind repainted ||| it makes me ill  

lessons from michael (lyrics adapted from a poem by michael dickens)  
sometimes the light keeps its distance | sometimes i feel like letting go | it's so hard and life seems turned | life seems turned and overthrown | sometimes i get weak | sometimes God should have his turn | with lessons to be taught | lessons, lessons to be lived and learned || there is never-ending knowledge | there is never-ending love | patience, kindness, and forgiveness | lessons, lessons to be lived and learned

descended  

vivid
it took me by surprise | my eyes grew accustomed to the dark | i was far beyond blind | i was on the edge of nevermind || it's all so vivid || 

tethered  

merry-go-round  

dawn, the eighth day  

adam's hand