Imagine - Prisoners held in a cave Slaves shackled by the legs and neck since childhood Thus they stay in the same place Such that there is only one thing for them to see A wall Behind them is a fire which casts a light upon their backs Now imagine that between the fire and the prisoners Their masters travel to and from a path What do the prisoners see and hear? From the beginning They have known nothing of the world but shadows And the noises surrounding them They would believe that what they sense constitute all of reality And attribute the sounds to those shadows Rather than the ones who cast them Suppose now that one of these prisoners were released And while inspecting his surroundings He turned his gaze upon the fire His eyes, so used to the dim light, would be blinded Initially he would refuse to believe this was real But in time he would gradually come to the understanding That the shadows of his past had been a lie An illusion created by the burning fire He was now free In this enlightenment, he would attempt to convince the others That the world they knew was false And a greater reality existed where they could not see But being blind to the world behind them They would reject his words and think of him as a madman They would not understand . . . They could not understand . . .

"Blind as I was born Just as all you are Hanging by the arms Staring at the wall But then I saw the light And followed through the dark Now rise up from the ground Walk with me into the World beyond" There he stood before Burning like the fire Glowing with an aura Golden as a God So we took his word And ventured from our home Through benighted eyes We watched reality unfold He walked among the lost Guiding us to find ourselves To those we came across We welcome them to join our cause As one we traveled on Gathering what knowledge that we could But wisest of us all Still remained our Savior Who we called Messiah And so with time we passed his mighty share of wisdom Tales of distant lands and long forgotten kingdoms "What if I told you of a place salvation waits? Would you pay the price to spend the rest of life in Paradise?" Then he led us on the way Revealing what lay hidden in this oasis But instead we found the ruins of a promise unfulfilled A false premise he recruited us to build "We live to suffer in this realm So together won't you share the pain? And know that you will not have toiled in vain For I shall revel in the bounty of your faith" To see through the charade Not to be enslaved again Exposed now to his game Disposing our chains We tore him limb from limb Then we took upon the reins Of the choices that remained And left our separate ways With freedom in our hands To guide us on the path Turning back to back We ventured through the wild again Searching for a home A place to call our own at last Severing from our faults Divided now on separate roads Never again to fall Victim to such hope We face this world alone

Praise this starry night Eyes of the divine Glory to the one who shines brightest of them all Won't you be my guide Beacon in the sky Sacred guardian of the northern lights Polaris Take me to the northern wastes Far beyond from the reaches of society's domain So lead us Off these roads astray Far away on the path to lands where freedom reigns Lone wolf of the night Walk the Welkin's line Open up the gates to the realm of solitude Following your signs Celestial design One day you will fall and leave us wandering blind I face the soul inside Reflections of the night Projecting out the sorrows of my emptiness I cry Polaris Take me to the northern wastes Far beyond from the influence I can't escape So lead us Where we can relay Far away from the influenza, human plague

As I scan this wasteland An endless snowfall permeates the scene While colors fade to unity Winter blends the canvas - a Masterpiece Foreshadowed by Her veil Shrouded for burial, my destiny revealed Entombed and sealed The fading Sun draws me towards the looming vales Snowblind I find myself lost inside the confines Of this Sol bearing white And so I expire In mourning Her demise A soul barren life Sightless I proceed Left with but an aura to perceive And sensing Her requiem The Aurora conducts me with its symphony Now howling through the aether Winter's hound forecasts my defeat Acquiescing this prophecy I reach for the abyss and it returns my grasp Snowblind Marching onward Against the sunrise Burning my eyes Cast against the iris Mask of the divine The source of my ire

From the moment we set foot beyond that cave And gazed into the light for the first time The foundation of reality began to unfold As if born again into a new world Yet even as we overcame the deception Imposed upon us against our will The feeling of helplessness remains For in the irony of it all, I am blind once again Perhaps this is the work of fate - an inevitable consequence So now I wander lost; a phantom cursed to linger in this realm Following the course that lies ahead Searching for a way back home Through winding roads Of earth and stone To scar the soil Over which I roam Through twisted paths By thorn and branch To score these hands And stain the land This is the price that I pay To take a gamble with faith And now resigned to this fate To have no sight of the way As my vision did fade So does the prospect of salvation grow dim All sense of hope decays Leaving me to suffer from this affliction alone Doomed to carry these burdens Withering slowly in desolation I can only wonder whether things would have been better If I had been left in the dark I reject this notion Of a predestined tale That we are bound to walk on Such narrow pedestrian trails And like the shadows that passed above I sense a presence from far beyond The illusion begat to overcome A prelude to convalesce Behold! The light returns Revealing what I've yearned Oh! How the mountain shook As if to welcome this hermit home And so I finally understood the message Behind the lessons learned Emerging from my isolation enlightened and finally redeemed Although it was chance that brought me back To this cave from whence I came It was choice that led me to set foot inside Upon entering those halls that once held me prisoner I now rejoiced Having shed the veil that formerly shaded my eyes As I looked among those who had taken place Along the chains in our absence I reached out and called for them to join me "The lion has come My children are near I have grown old The hour approaches This is our morning A new day begins Now arise! Arise . . ."