7. The Chalice of Shadows

Verse 1 Upon the altar, cold and bare A silver vessel waited there Tarnished by the weight of years Bright with all inherited fears When my fingers touched the rim The world grew dark, the edges dim Kings and traitors, priests and flame Rose like smoke and spoke one name Chorus Chalice of shadows Show me what they hid Show me every throne they built On what the old blood did Chalice of shadows Bitter in the hand Teach me how to break the lie That poisoned all this land Verse 2 I saw feasts behind silk walls Candles lit in secret halls Saw the smiling mouths of power Choose the dark and name it flower Not a curse by fate alone But a weapon carved and grown Used by hands too rich to bleed Fed by fear and righteous need Chorus Chalice of shadows Show me what they hid Show me every throne they built On what the old blood did Chalice of shadows Bitter in the hand Teach me how to break the lie That poisoned all this land Bridge In the vision, in the stain I saw profit made from pain Saw the holy and the crowned Keep the curse to rule the ground So the evil I had feared Was not only ghost or seer It was chosen, dressed in law With a jeweled and smiling jaw Final Chorus Chalice of shadows I have seen enough Power wears a noble face And calls its cruelty love Chalice of shadows No more hidden hand I will drag the buried truth Into the light of man