BARSHASKETH LYRICS

1. Ophidian Henosis - I

Overflowing with an absence of will
And thus, I am defined
It's no great marvel that lost men

Stood beneath skies torn by gaudy starlight

And shrank under the weight of the infinite
That they gave that nothingness a name

And fell to their knees before its might to worship it

The tyrannical, uncaring personification of the void
Burdened by freedom

They constructed their own prison and damned their descendents to eternal interment

And I am like them
A coward before the vastness of nothingness
Crippled by the mocking sting of guilt

Dragged down by the burning expanse of emptiness that weighs in us all

Consumed by it, I've watched meaning slowly tortured until it becomes meaningless in itself

A twisted relic from an incomprehensible past

The only true defeat is surrender
The only true death is submission
There are no martyrs here

Ours is the path of endless struggle
The only true defeat is surrender
The only true death is submission
There are no martyrs here
Ours is the path of bitter rage
The only true defeat is surrender
The only true death is submission
There are no martyrs here
Ours is the path of burning sorrow

2. Ophidian Henosis - II

Crawling through the clawing, sucking mire of defeat
Ever upward, ascending to unattainable heights
Towards the self
I see it at the apex - triumphant and calm

With every pace, I slip back two more
But still I climb with aching muscles

Below, the gloom is warmed by the dazzling fires of apathy

And the masses pass me by, fleeing the self on shambling limbs
Descending towards the lights

Their faces merged into a rictus of vacant, asinine contentedness

And I'm tempted to join them
I confess in moments of weakness and despair,
I've let myself slip back, towards the warmth

Some stop to converse, but their tongue is as alien to me as the screeching of the crow

They are politely oblivious to the bloodied, soiled carcass
That I drag behind me with a taut golden line

Yet still they leave gladdened, ever towards the lights
And I continue upward

My dragging body becomes heavy as the detritus builds up

If only I had the will to severe that golden cable, to float at ease toward the self

But I lack the courage
That is my burden

3. Ophidian Henosis - III

I've seen beauty blossom, and permeate brightly through this sphere
Only to putrefy and cover the earth with its ashes

I've felt the hopeless despair of the finite
And the crushing weight of doubt

I turn inwards, with heavy lidded ajna
A blurred and filthy lens

And with the purging of ego, I'm overcome with ecstasy
And enveloped in blinding light

Without decay, beauty becomes banality
There is only one eternal strand
Fluctuating
The surging mass of desultory life
Moved by spurious forces through channels of stone

Is more frightening to me than the embrace of death
But without that fear, there can be no strength
So I reject the hungry arms of death again

Only through suffering can we know true joy
Only through blindness can we behold true light

I detach from the nimbus of occlusion
And tear through Maya with merciless attrition

The curse of the enlightened is that they're blind to their own elevation

Vnable to perceive it through grimed lenses

We will always be despised by the spiritually impoverished

Just as the immured detest the few beyond the bounds of their prison

4. Ophidian Henosis - IV

Shatter the illusions
That rot like a plague within
Project the shards outward
To tear through veils of delusion

Cornering weakness
Delve into its depths
Exacerbate the wound

Vntil strength blossoms from its corpse
The spirit years to ascend

Straining against its bonds
Cables drawn taut
Still firmly rooted in the carcass of weakness

A phoenix in fetters but the yearning
The desire to ascend

Is the seed
That will grow to shatter these chains
The spark
Of the metamorphic conflagration

Onward now to blacker hells
To bleaker spheres of desolation
To conquer misery

Another vassal in service to this burgeonig strength
Absorbing every failure
With ungoveranble strength

Nauseated by this cloud of feeble, mephitic will
I return to black faith

5. Ophidian Henosis - V

Embracing chaos
Imbued with its fury

Transcending planes of stagnation
Mastering vicissitude
Transmitting it to strength

Throwing off the veil of weakness
To realise that what I've perceived

As the walls of my prison
Are the keys to liberation
Led astray by languor

I've neglected solitude, sorrow and rage

I've suppressed the eternal call of darkness

In favour of this anemic half-life
Everything I despise

But this frailty is only a mask
Concealing burning rage
I see it disintegrate in ashes with the rekindling of a supine spirit

I'll shed no tears for those

Who have volunteered for vassalage
For those who wallow in weakness

The embers of rage have kindled
I forge a glacial path
From life unto death

6. Ophidian Henosis - VI

Emerging from unplumbed blackness
Cloaked in filth and horror
Emblazoned with untold miseries

Deny hope
Your shrines are hollow

Rejecting extraneous salvation
Seeking redemption within
Torturing failure until it becomes victory

Nurturing the unknown
Vntil it becomes wisdom

Rise from the corpse of solace
Profane metempsychosis

Wielding the anguish that burns inwardly
Strike out and transcend

My only sin has been submission
But true growth requires the blackest sin
Strike out and ascend

Becoming my weakness
Becoming my fear
Becoming the enemy

To realise true potential
And the extent of fortitude
Blind to the writhing mass
Grasping for hollow scraps

And siphoning pride from the deeds of another I master fate
A coronation of suffering

I sacrifice meekness
At the altar of true will

Adorned with the regalia of death

Bearing the putrid insignia of the horror of the void

I reign over this decrepit path
With ophidian obdurateness

7. Ophidian Henosis - VII

Battling the monad of despair
Atop the corpses of man's every hope

Beneath vacant banners
Shattered against the walls
Burning with every inevitable defeat

Armouring the spirit in the vestments of desolation
Reborn from the ashes of relentless vanquishment
The seed of incipient triumph

Germinating in the vestiges of ultimate defeat

The only true defeat is surrender
The only true death is submission
There are no martyrs here

Ours is the path of glorious triumph







BARSHASKETH LYRICS