EELRIJUE | CODEX | 7. Pyre Ships

saw the setting sun from the desert once or twice
long nights waiting for a death that never comes
living legend, a curse and a blessing
a long time alone with too many questions
too numb, too much to choose from
too many folks getting used once and chewed up
no traditions, no saints, no magicians
only Torquemada on the road to Lisbon
and history is so persistent
yet we never know the names of the ghosts we live with
a generation of adrenaline fiends
tethered to screens, death by six or seven degrees, you know
give or take, just need a little living space
running out room some with some overflowing dinner plates
guess it’s not a problem if you don’t admit it
off the record, no specifics, smoking gun, loaded image
the human mind is so consistent
always something stupid making monkeys go ballistic
...scratch that, it’s nothing to me
keep the good shit tucked up my combustible sleeves
saw the setting sun from the towers of the Temple House
swam the centuries and never drowned, been around
mythologized, leatherbound, kids forget me now
...just justice for the decades I let you down
give or take, I’ve idolized and imitated
and now today I’m just a fiction that some kid created
and underneath it, the secret of secrets
ten thousand year old man, but who’d believe it
myths and legends, respect to the bretheren
who posed their whole lives in the form of a question
moral and a message, madness and a method
meaning doesn’t matter, memories of Memphis
never could accept it, daughters and wives, all in a line
watching them die, the slaughter of time
beneath it, the secret of secrets
the bones and the blood and the screams of the phoenix
history is so persistent
yet you never knew the names of the ghosts you lived with
but we’ve been watching you, you’re so soft and smooth
but we’ve been watching you, you’re so soft