BEFORE THE LIGHT THERE WAS DESCENT BEFORE THE STARS THERE WAS THE FALL I am descending through the narrow gate From infinite potential to a singular fate The warmth of nothing giving way to cold A story that's been waiting to be told In the darkness of the womb I was complete Now I'm forced into a world that won't be sweet The great descent is more than flesh and bone It's leaving heaven just to be alone They don't tell you that birth is the first trauma That separation from the source is cosmic drama One moment you're connected, whole, at peace The next you're screaming as the comfort CEASE This is the GREAT descent, the fall from grace From unified existence to this fragile PLACE Where breath is struggle, where light is pain Where being born means learning how to strain I'M FALLING THROUGH THE DARK TOWARD A DISTANT SPARK THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT THE MOMENT HEAVEN BENT THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! FROM DUST I'M CALLED TO BE! A PRELUDE TO THE LIGHT! THAT I CAN'T YET SEE! I'M FALLING INTO FORM! LEAVING THE DIVINE! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! THE STARS WILL STILL BE MINE! FROM NOTHING INTO SOMETHING! FROM ONE INTO THE SMALL! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! THE NECESSARY FALL! The first descent was only the first door I've learned how many ways a life can lose its floor Through people, places, pieces left behind Through giving shelter somewhere I could not find I came down carrying a different kind of mind Built for connection with the volume amplified I learned attachment has a gravity of its own How close you can be held and somehow feel alone I've disappeared inside what felt like home Watched safety turn to somewhere I couldn't go Even the songs that once kept air inside my chest Became another place I couldn't safely rest But coming back did not return the former me Some things survive by changing permanently The fall left fingerprints beneath my skin I'm not who started this but I am here again. I'M FALLING THROUGH THE DARK I'VE DONE THIS PART BEFORE THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT BUT I KNOW THERE IS MORE THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! FROM DUST I'M CALLED TO BE! A PRELUDE TO THE LIGHT! THAT I CAN'T YET SEE! I'M FALLING INTO FORM! LEAVING THE DIVINE! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! THE STARS WILL STILL BE MINE! FROM NOTHING INTO SOMETHING! FROM ONE INTO THE SMALL! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! THE NECESSARY FALL! They say we come from stardust Ancient cosmic rain But first we have to fall through flesh And learn to bear the pain The great descent is not a curse Or proof the fall was right Some wounds don't need a reason To survive another night Maybe rising isn't healing. Maybe that's not what it means. Maybe rising is discovering you survived beneath the debris. SO I FELL SO I SCREAMED SO I LANDED IN THIS WORLD AND I FELL MORE THAN ONCE AFTER EVERYTHING UNFURLED BUT THE GREAT DESCENT DID NOT RETURN ME AS I CAME I CARRIED WHAT IT CHANGED IN ME AND ROSE WITH IT THE SAME THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! MY FALL INTO THE LIGHT! A PRELUDE TO THE STARS! THAT BURN BEYOND THE NIGHT! I'M BORN INTO THIS FORM! BUT STARDUST STILL REMAINS! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! AND I STILL BEAR ITS STAINS! FROM HEAVEN INTO EARTH! FROM SPIRIT INTO FLESH! THIS IS THE GREAT DESCENT! I DON'T COME BACK REFRESHED! I FELL AND I AM RISING! BOTH THINGS CAN STILL BE TRUE! THE STARS DON'T ASK ME TO BECOME ... the person that they knew The great descent isn't over There are distances to go But the stars remember where I'm from Even when I don't From dust to stars Whatever I've become I don't have to know the ending To keep moving toward the sun
