Everything Returns (Sithis)

[INSTRUMENTAL INTRO] [INTRO] Before the first word Before the first flame Before the gods were given mouths There was no name Before the bright wheel Before the wound of time There was the dark without a face And it was mine [VERSE 1] Do not kneel There is no throne here No crown to set above me No heaven to draw near Do not pray Your prayers have edges And every edge will weather When the silence presses in I was the hollow in the hymn The pause before creation The hand that never held the world But turned it toward decay Every tongue has dressed me different Every age has worn me wrong Call me shadow, call me serpent Still the ending sings along [PRE-CHORUS] Akel, Is-Not Dread Father in the dark Padomay, the open scar Where all beginnings fall apart Say my name Then lose the sound Light a candle Watch it drown [CHORUS] I am not the death you fear I am what was before it I am not the grave you dig I am what waits below it I am not the dark you see I am the dark behind it When all your gods forget their names Come down, come down, and find it Everything returns Everything returns Ash to ash and dust to dust And dust to something worse Everything returns Everything returns When the world runs out of breath It speaks my name in reverse [VERSE 2] Men made altars out of murder Called the blood a holy wine Hung a mother in the whisper Put a black hand over mine Let them come with bones and daggers Let them speak of sacred debts They are children touching thunder Calling storms their silhouettes I am not fed by little knives I do not hunger like a king One more body in the river Is a rain drop to the sea Still they hear me in the floorboards Still they feel me through the walls Every contract, every coffin Just another door that falls Not because I love the killing Not because I need the pain But because all forms are borrowed And the void collects its change [PRE-CHORUS] Akel, Is-Not No mercy, no wrath No scripture in the nothing No mercy in the math Say my name It leaves your mouth Like a star That’s going out [CHORUS] I am not the death you fear I am what was before it I am not the grave you dig I am what waits below it I am not the dark you see I am the dark behind it When all your gods forget their names Come down, come down, and find it Everything returns Everything returns Ash to ash and dust to dust And dust to something worse Everything returns Everything returns When the world runs out of breath It speaks my name in reverse [BRIDGE] No horns No halo No face beneath the veil No law No mercy No scale that will not fail No prince No prophet No hand to guide the blade No sin No virtue Just the shape that silence made You were born from a question You will end as a reply Every kingdom is a sentence With a period in the sky Every star will lose its witness Every sea will lose its shore Every god will meet the quiet And the quiet will want more [FINAL CHORUS] I am not the death you fear I am what was before it I am not the grave you dig I am what waits below it I am not the dark you see I am the dark behind it When all your gods forget their names Come down, come down, and find it Everything returns Everything returns Ash to ash and dust to dust And dust to something worse Everything returns Everything returns When the world runs out of breath It speaks my name in reverse [OUTRO] Before the last word After the last flame After the gods are swallowed whole There is no name No song No soul No light left to resist Only the void Only the hush Only Is-Not Only Sithis