Chapter I : The Abbey at Worlds End

Cold is the dawn on the monastery gate Seven days of secrets bound to a fate A novice dead, a book of death concealed The mind must light what faith keeps sealed Mist upon the mountain, stone against the sky Walls that swallow daylight, gates that swallow why I was young and foolish Led by an older hand Into halls of treachery I could not comprehend Bells that toll for matins, echoes never cease Faces carved in worry, wearing masks of peace Something moves the shadows deeper than the stone Something in the archive that God has never known I did not know the weight of what I find The doubt that waits behind a pious mind This is the abbey at world's end Where every truth becomes a sin to tend Stone by stone the silence grows Into a grave that no one chose William walked beside me, eyes that missed no thread Reading guilt in gestures, counting steps and dread He warned me of the order hidden in the dark Long before the first of us had found the mark Every door here hides a question Every question hides a crime Every silence hides confession Every truth is out of time! This is the abbey at world's end Where every truth becomes a sin to tend Stone by stone the silence grows Into a grave that no one chose