AS I LAY DYING LYRICS

1. Burn To Emerge

Will I ever escape?
Can we ever change?
Will I ever escape?
Can we ever change?
Will I ever escape?
Can we ever change?

2. Blinded

Have you ever been blinded by the pain?

Blinded, blinded by the pain
Unwilling to see, senseless
So blinded by selfishness
Only focusing on myself
And ignoring anyone else

Becoming driven by despair
Feeling trapped into a corner
Losing more and more of reality
Perceiving all the hurt only one-sidedly

Have you ever been blinded by the pain?
Losing yourself inside the heartache

Losing yourself
Feeling too powerless to change
Stuck and unable to escape
Incapable to see another way
I need someone to shake me, to wake me
I don't even need full clarity
Just to start the shift from blind to blurry

Have you ever been blinded by the pain?
Losing yourself inside the heartache
And does that mean we cannot change?
Or will we always be seen that way?

Will we always be seen that way?
And does that really mean we have not changed?

Or does it only mean
The truth is not in how we're seen?
But in the actions that we're now determined to take
Revealing the new path we chose to mend the heartache
Was it a pattern or a disastrous mistake?
Is the truth in what you see or what I say?

Have you ever been blinded by the pain?
Losing yourself inside the heartache
And does that mean we cannot change?
Or will we always be seen that way?

Be seen that way?
Blinded by pain? Blinded by the pain

And does that really mean we have not changed?

3. Shaped By Fire

The wise before me chose to refine themselves
Melt away their shortcomings by enduring trials
A process we will all undertake
Even if we try to prevent change

Face it before you are pulled in
Face it while it's still within

Like iron shaped by fire
We aren't born this way
Shaped by fire
We are reborn through pain
We aren't born
We aren't born this way
We are reborn
We are reborn through pain

Though I too have endured fire
I wasn't wise enough to ignite the flame myself
But carried enough fuel for a flicker to excel

Face it before you are pulled in
Face it while it's still within

Face it before you are pulled in
Face it while it's still within

Shaped by fire
We aren't born this way
Shaped by fire
We are reborn through pain
We aren't born
We aren't born this way
We are reborn through pain

Shaped by fire
We aren't born this way
Shaped by fire
We are reborn through pain
Through pain
We are reborn
We are reborn through pain

The time has come
To watch the fire grow
Find new things to throw in
Don't let the flames get low
I've grown used to the heat
That makes me reevaluate
What I carry with me
And what should be thrown away

Face it before you are pulled in
Face it while it's still within

Like iron shaped by fire
We aren't born this way
Shaped by fire
We are reborn through pain
We aren't born
We aren't born this way
We are reborn through pain

Shaped by fire
We aren't born this way
Shaped by fire
We are reborn through pain
We are reborn
We are reborn through pain

4. Undertow

The life that I sought was
Already like a jail
Long before I was ever bound

Wrapped up in chains

No one had built the bonds
Use to hold me captive
I had locked away myself
In a captain-less ship

Destined to destroy ashore
Destruction was my savior
Crushing, collapse, crashing
From the impact

I can't escape the undertow that's pulling me
But I keep fighting to get away
The undertow that's pulling me, pulling me

My control disappeared
'Cause it was never real

Aboard a ship with nowhere to go
Guided by lifelessness
A skeleton without a soul
Crushing
Collapse looming ahead
Crashing is imminent
From the impact

I can't escape the undertow that's pulling me
But I keep fighting to get away
The undertow that's pulling me, pulling me
I can't escape the undertow that's pulling me, pulling me

Though I found freedom when
I stopped fighting everyone else
And loosened up the anchor
That I had tied around myself

I let go of the chains! Chains!
Just let go of the chains!
I let go of the chains used to hold me in
My addictions!

Killing me from within

I can't escape the undertow that's pulling me
But I keep fighting to get away
The undertow that's pulling me, pulling me

I can't escape the undertow that's pulling me
But I keep fighting to get away
The undertow that's pulling me, pulling me

Just let go of the chains! Chains!
I let go of the chains used to hold me in my addiction

5. Torn Between

Pulled both ways but still suspended
The worst of each, reduced and blended
Still suspended
Suspended!

I thought I was stuck between two worlds
Because I was not willing to let go!

Recklessly pulled both ways
But somehow still suspended
The worst of each (the worst of each)
Reduced and blended (reduced and blended)

But as life unfolded I realized
The momentum to drift from side to side
Came from within, came from inside!

I feel torn between two hearts dying but
I'll trade them in for one (I'll trade them in for one)
Broken and exposed, collapsing
So why would I hold on? (So why would I hold on?)

One heart turned black (burned black)
The other blue and bruised
Arms breaking, arms breaking from the dreams
Dreams shattered, the dreams that I can't reach
There has to be, there has to be a choice I have not seen

I feel torn between two hearts dying but
I'll trade them in for one (I'll trade them in for one)
Broken and exposed, collapsing
So why would I hold on? (So why would I hold on?)

I feel torn between two hearts dying but
I'll trade them in for one (I'll trade them in for one)

One darkened over time burning away the shame
Erasing hidden insights I did not want to be seen
The other was beaten from being exposed
So it hurt less to never hold it close

I feel torn between two hearts dying but
I'll trade them in for one (I'll trade them in for one)
Broken and exposed, collapsing
So why would I hold on? (So why would I hold on?)

I feel torn between two hearts dying but
I'll trade them in for one (So why would I hold on?)
I'll trade them in for one!

Neither heart had the power to fill my veins
Or be the source of who I want to be
(Pulled both ways but still suspended...)

6. Gatekeeper

You've lost touch!
You've lost touch with the outcasts

Have you forgotten your own past?
Have you forgotten that your house is made of glass? (Is made of glass?)
So while you're pointing your fingers
You are unable to use your hands to help with solving, solving real and present problems
'Cause we're appealing and you've become too perfect to understand

You're a gatekeeper
Blocking the entrance to nowhere
You're a gatekeeper
Trying to keep others in despair

Keep others in despair

I don't want you to get dirty reaching down to a lowly creature
I don't want you to show mercy and make me like you, self-righteous preacher

Did you think you were the only one
The only one who held the keys?
Did you hope that your judgement would
Spread just like a disease?

You're a gatekeeper
Blocking the entrance to nowhere
You're a gatekeeper
Trying to keep others in despair

The self importance of the moral elite
To think that their approval means anything

So eager to capitalize
Capitalize on other people's pain
But when the healing begins
So quick to turn away

Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten your own past?

You're a gatekeeper
Blocking the entrance to nowhere
You're a gatekeeper
Keeping others in despair

7. The Wreckage

(The wreckage seemed too great for me
I saw my dreams collapsing)
Collapsing!
But through debris of tragedy
Not one of us died fighting

The wreckage!

We somehow found a way through storming weather
Enduring skies turned gray when we all said never

The winds, the rain
Downpour needed to cultivate

We don't get to choose when it rains
We can fight or just get washed away
Will we be transformed or feel like we're drowning?
Drowning!

The wreckage!

So use the storms ahead to flood out shortcomings
And then use what is left to water what is worth planting

The winds, the rain
Downpour needed to cultivate

Debris, tragedy
But not one of us died...
But not one of us died fighting

We don't get to choose when it rains
We can fight or just get washed away
Will we be transformed or feel like we're drowning?

Will we fight or just get washed away?

And now the mountains that we face
Are starting to look more like hills
We rose to a higher plain so the whole horizon fell
It fell, the whole horizon fell

Through the debris of tragedy
Not one of us died fighting
Fighting!

We don't get to choose when it rains
We can fight or just get washed away (away)
Will we be transformed or feel like we're drowning? (drowning)
We don't get to choose when it rains
We can fight or just get washed away (away)
Will we be transformed or feel like we're drowning? (feel like we're drowning)

The wreckage that once seemed insurmountable to me
Is now becoming a part of rebuilding
We somehow found a way through storming weather
Enduring skies turned gray when we all said never
So use the storms ahead to flood out shortcomings
And then use what is left to water what is worth planting

Deep roots that refuse...
Deep roots that refuse...
Deep roots that refuse...
Deep roots that refuse to break
Deep roots that refuse...
Deep roots that refuse to break
Deep roots that refuse to break...

8. My Own Grave

The lies, the weight, deceit, decay

The lies, the weight
It's clear I lost my way
Deceit, decay
Decomposing

I thought I was an architect but I was just moving dirt
Stacking mud over malice covered-up forming nothing but a pile of hurt
I hadn’t been building (building)
The time was spent digging (digging)
Boring the barriers that kept others away (away)
The deeper the walls the less anyone could hear (hear me) fall

So now I know there is no one else to blame

Buried alive inside of my own grave
And there's no one else to blame
Buried alive inside of my own grave
Inside of my own grave

Beneath my lies
Delusional enough to think I’d designed something great
Like a giant headstone inscribed to describe my shameful fate
I hadn't been building (building)
The time was spent digging (digging)
An ugly truth from which there was no way to escape (escape)
Nowhere left to hide and then finally forced to face what I'd become

Buried alive inside of my own grave (my grave)
And there's no one else to blame
Buried alive inside of my own grave (my grave)
What I'd become
Buried alive inside of my own grave

Beneath my pride crushing me
Beneath my lies collapsing
But we are still alive
We are still alive

Buried alive inside of my own grave
And there's no one else to blame
Buried alive inside of my own grave
My own grave
Buried alive inside of my own grave
And there's no one else to blame
The lies and the weight, I know I lost my way (my way)
What I'd become
Buried alive inside of my own grave (my grave)
And there's no one else to blame
Buried alive… buried alive

Finally forced to face what I'd become
What I'd become in my own grave (buried)
In my own grave (alive)

9. Take What's Left

I took what you gave me, destroyed it all
I had to lose everything to know that I was wrong
And now I see what was true all along
A void in me now that everything is gone

(Now that everything is gone)

The emptiness can be a source of clarity
Taking away a way for us to hide
Always revealing

No choice but to rebuild
No voice, no peace, no love, no home
Nothing left to hold
Nothing left but hope

Take my broken frame
What still remains free from the chains (free from the chains)

Nothing left to hold, nothing left but hope

Like hunting for prey that we don't even need to track
So easy to follow what's next, we are left with only one path, one path

No choice but to rebuild
No voice, no peace, no love, no home
Nothing left but hope

Take my broken frame
What still remains free from the chains (free from the chains)
Take what's left in me, what's worth saving
No matter how much time it takes

From merely hope we are brought back to life
From broken bones we revive

Take what's left and create
Take what's left and then rebuild

(You had every reason to give up on me
But you stood and waited when everyone ran away)

I took your gifts, destroyed them all (destroyed them all)
And then lost everything to know that I was wrong (that I was wrong)
But you still carried me when you could barely walk (you could barely walk)
You reminded me, I was never too far gone
(Take what's left)

Take my broken frame
What still remains free from the chains (free from the chains)
Take what's left in me, what's worth saving
No matter how much time it takes
Take my broken frame
What still remains free from the chains (free from the chains)

Take what's left
Take what's left and rebuild

10. Redefined

I refuse to let go of the memories
'Cause they've changed everything inside of me

If I could go back now to save myself at loss
Substanceless character brought back would be the cost (the cost)
Agony today
Is tomorrow's strength
So don't run away
'Cause misery is...

Evolving into something that we can't see
Evolving and becoming, transforming
So don't run away

The pain can never be erased
Remain and turn it into strength
Turn it into strength

What do we value in the midst of complacency?
But in despair we beg for something, anything
Even our mistakes (even our mistakes)
Can have the power
To light the way (to light the way)
Like a glaring tower

The pain can never be erased
Remain and turn it into strength
From our failures we are refined (this perfect fight)
Replacing frailty
Allowing us to be
Be redefined

Healed scars can be stronger than skin
The wounds we have can be rewritten
Redefined
Redefined
Redefined
Agony today
Is tomorrow's strength
Redefined
So don't run away

The pain can never be erased
The pain can never be erased
Remain and turn it into strength
The pain can never be erased (never be erased)
Remain and turn it into strength (turn it into strength)

From our failures we are refined (this perfect fight)
Replacing frailty (pray your last day)
Allowing us to be
Be redefined (from our failures we're stronger in fight)
Replacing frailty
Allowing us to be
Be redefined

Don't run away (don't run away)
Misery's evolving

11. Only After We've Fallen

The worst form of illness is one that goes undiagnosed
Subtle decay secretly spread, a cancer of the soul
A cancer! A cancer of the soul

We are all dying
Some of us just faster than our friends
But pointing to a greater fault won't cure what we have hidden (hidden!)
I used to be able to pretend but I can no longer hide from who I am

My deceit was displayed for all to see
The only thing that could have saved me

Only after we've fallen
Can we then find the cure?
Looking up from the bottom
When dust settles it's clear
(When the dust settles it's clear!)

It's so easy to believe that you are nothing like me
'Cause your deceit is lesser and yet to be seen
But does that change what you're hiding?

Only after we've fallen
Can we then find the cure?
Looking up from the bottom
When dust settles it's clear
Only after we've fallen
Can we then find the cure?
Looking up from the bottom
When dust settles it's clear

Only after we've fallen
Can we find the cure?

We are all dying!
A cancer of the soul
We are all dying!
A cancer of the soul

A heart that is bound by snakes
With a mind that's sprouting wings
A dangerous combination
That fails to address our infection
(Infection!)

My deceit was displayed for all to see
The only thing that could have saved me

Only after we've fallen
Can we then find the cure?
Looking up from the bottom
When dust settles it's clear
Only after we've fallen
Can we then find the cure?
Looking up from the bottom
When dust settles it's clear

Only after we've fallen (fallen!)
We are all dying (dying!)

But will we find the cure?
Only after we have fallen
Looking up from the bottom
It seems so clear

12. The Toll It Takes

There's a sentence they gave me
Then one that remains unchanging

Like skin that's burnt by frost
It'll peel if I pull away
It hurts to hold or let go
As I'm trying to sustain

Like feeling hunger pangs and eating bone to stay alive
It tears me apart inside but it seems like the better way to get by

Like a broken hourglass they fell
Cutting sand through my fingers down the deepest well

I know the toll it takes
But I won't let you go
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know
There is no turning back
I can't fix what I broke
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know!

You're a part of me that I may never be able to repair
Like a lung that's collapsed
I'll always know that you're still there

Always surrounding my heart
Even if it rejects air

I know the toll it takes
But I won't let you go
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know
There is no turning back
I can't fix what I broke
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know!

The true sentence I still face
Is one I brought upon myself

Lost in a dark cell
They said it's easiest to just numb yourself and let go
But these open wounds will forever feel fresh
And I refuse to let them close yet

I know the toll it takes
But I won't let you go
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know
There is no turning back
I can't fix what I broke
The past I can't replace
Is all that you'll ever know!

I know the toll it takes
But I won't let you go







AS I LAY DYING LYRICS