Vapor Trails

A certain measure of innocence Willing to appear naive A certain degree of imagination A measure of make-believe A certain degree of surrender To the forces of light and heat A shot of satisfaction In a willingness to risk defeat Celebrate the moment As it turns into one more Another chance at victory Another chance to score The measure of the moment In a difference of degree Just one little victory A spirit breaking free One little victory The greatest act can be One little victory A certain measure of righteousness A certain amount of force A certain degree of determination Daring on a different course A certain amount of resistance To the forces of the light and love A certain measure of tolerance A willingness to rise above

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Apr 26, 2025

It's not the heat It's the inhumanity Plugged into the sweat of a summer street Machine gun images pass Like malice through a looking glass The slackjaw gaze Of true profanity Feels more like surrender than defeat If culture is the curse of the thinking class If culture is the curse of the thinking class Ceiling unlimited World so wide Turn and turn again Feeling unlimited Still unsatisfied Changes never end The vacant laugh Of true insanity Dressed up in the mask of Tragedy Programmed for the guts and glands Of idle minds and idle hands I rest my case - Or at least my vanity Dressed up in the mask of Comedy If laughter is a straw for a drowning man If laughter is a straw for a drowning man Ceiling unlimited Windows open wide Look and look again Feeling unlimited Eyes on the prize Changes never end Winding like an ancient river The time is now again Hope is like an ancient river The time is now again

Submitted by Infernal Flame — Apr 26, 2025

Pack up all those phantoms Shoulder that invisible load Keep on riding North and West Haunting that wilderness road Like a ghost rider Carry all those phantoms Through bitter wind and stormy skies From the desert to the mountain From the lowest low to the highest high Like a ghost rider Keep on riding North and West Then circle South and East Show me beauty but there is no peace For the ghost rider Shadows on the road behind Shadows on the road ahead Nothing can stop you now There's a shadow on the road behind There's a shadow on the road ahead Nothing can stop you now Sunrise in the mirror Lightens that invisible load Riding on a nameless quest Haunting that wilderness road Like a ghost rider Just an escape artist Racing against the night A wandering hermit Racing toward the light From the white sands To the canyonlands To the redwood stands To the barren lands Sunrise on the road behind Sunset on the road ahead There's nothing to stop you now Nothing can stop you now

Submitted by Nargaroth — Apr 26, 2025

A waive toward the clearing the sky All this time we're talking and sharing our rational view A billion other voices are spreading other news All this time we're living and trying to understand Why a billion other choices are making their demands Talk of a peaceable kingdom Talk of a time without fear The ones we wish would listen Are never going to hear Justice against the hanged man Knight of Wands against the hour Swords against the kingdom Time against the tower All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn Dream of a peaceable kingdom Dream of a time without war The ones we wish would hear us Have heard it all before A wave toward the clearing sky A wave toward the clearing sky The hermit against the lovers Or the devil against the fool Swords against the kingdom The wheel against the rules All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks Every spark a drifting ember of desire To fall upon the earth and spark another fire A homeward angel on the fly A wave toward the clearing sky

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Apr 26, 2025

Like the fly on the wheel, who says, "What a lot of dust we're raising." Are you under the illusion That you're part of this scheme? Seems like a lifetime ago You could look with pride On your world of dreams What is the meaning of this? And the stars look down What are you trying to do? And the stars look down Was it something I said And the stars look down Like the rat in a maze who says "Watch me choose my own direction." Are you under the illusion The path is winding your way? Are you surprised by confusion When it leads you astray? Have you lived a lifetime today - Or do you feel like you just got carried away? What is the meaning of this? And the stars look down What are you trying to do? And the stars look down Was it something I said? And the stars look down Something you'd like me to do? And the stars look down

Submitted by Grave666 — Apr 26, 2025

Here's a little trap That sometimes catches everyone When today's as far as we can see Faith in bright tomorrows Giving way to resignation That's how it is - How it's going to be It's such a cloudy day Seems we'll never see the sun Or feel the day has possibilities Frozen in the moment - The lack of imagination Between how it is and how it ought to be Here's a little trap That sometimes trips up everyone When we tire of our own company Sometimes we're the last to see beyond the day's frustrations That's how it is - how it's going to be It's such a cloudy day Seems we'll never see the sun I feel the day is all uncertainty Burning in the moment - trapped by the desperation Between how it is and how it ought to be Foot upon the stair Shoulder to the wheel You can't tell yourself not to care You can't tell yourself how to feel That's how it is - Another cloudy day

Submitted by VladTheImpaler666 — Apr 26, 2025

Stratospheric traces of our transitory flight Trails of condensation held In narrow paths of white The sun is turning black The world is turning gray All the stars fade from the night The oceans drain away Horizon to Horizon Memory written on the wind Fading away like an hourglass, grain by grain Swept away like voices in a hurricane In a vapor trail Atmospheric phases make the transitory last Vaporize the memories that freeze the fading past Silence all the songbirds Stilled by the killing frost Forests burn to ashes Everything is lost Washed away like footprints in the rain In a vapor trail

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Apr 26, 2025

The way out Is the way in The way out Is the way in... Out of touch With the weather and the wind direction With the sunrise And the phases of the moon Out of touch With life in the land of the loving With the living night And the darkness at high noon You can never break the chain There is never love without pain A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart Out of sync With the rhythm of my own reactions With the things that last And the things that come apart Out of sync With love in the land of the living A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart A healing hand, a secret touch on the heart There is never love without pain Life is a power that remains

On certain nights When the angles are right And the moon is a slender crescent Its circle shows In a ghostly glow Of earthly luminescence Earthshine A beacon in the night I can raise my eyes to Earthshine Earthshine A jewel out of reach Form a dream to rise to Earthshine Floating high In the evening sky I see my faint reflection Pale facsimile Like what others see When they look in my direction Earthshine Stretching out your hand Full of starlit diamonds Earthshine Reflected light To another's sight And the moon tells a lovers' story My borrowed face And my third-hand grace Only reflect your glory You're still out of reach Form a dream to rise to Earthshine

Submitted by Infernal Flame — Apr 26, 2025

I wasn't walking on water I was standing on a reef When the tide came in Swept beneath the surface Lost without a trace No hope at all No hope at all Oh, sweet miracle Oh, sweet miracle Of life I wasn't walking with angels I was talking to myself Rising up to the surface Raging against the night Starless night Oh, sweet miracle Love's sweet miracle Oh, sweet miracle Of life I wasn't praying for magic I was hiding in plain sight Rising up from the surface To fly into the light

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Apr 26, 2025

Did I have a dream? Or did the dream have me? Set off on a night-sea journey Without memory or desire Drifting through lost latitudes With no compass and no chart Flying through hallucination Distant voices, signal fires Lighting up my unconscious And the secret places of the heart Dream - temporary madness Dream - a voice in the wilderness Dream - unconscious revelations The morning says, the answer is yes Floating through a darkened mirror Deep reflections in disguise Soaring through lost altitudes Without wonder, without fear Symbols on a field of visions Behind the curtain of sleeping eyes On the instant of waking Another world of dreams appears Dream - temporary madness Dream - a walk in the wilderness Dream - unconscious recreation The morning says the answer is yes

Submitted by VladTheImpaler666 — Apr 26, 2025

The city crouches, steaming In the early morning half-light The sun is still a rumor And the night is still a threat Slipping through the dark streets And the echoes and the shadows Something stirs behind me And my palms begin to sweat Sometimes I freeze - until the light comes Sometimes I fly - into the night Sometimes I fight - against the darkness Sometimes I'm wrong - sometimes I'm right Coiled for the spring Or caught like a creature in the headlights Into a desperate panic Or a tempest of blind fury Like a cornered beast Or a conquering hero The menace threatens, closing And I'm frozen in the shadows I'm not prepared to run away And I'm not prepared to fight I can't stand to reason Or surrender to a reflex I will trust my instincts Or surrender to my fright Sometimes we freeze - until the light comes Sometimes we're wrong - and sometimes we're right Sometimes we fight - against the darkness Sometimes we fly - into the night Blood running cold Mind going down into a dark night Of a desperate panic Or a tempest of blind fury Like a cornered beast Or a conquering hero Sometimes I freeze Sometimes I fight Sometimes I fly Into the night

Submitted by NecroGod — Apr 26, 2025

It's not a place It's a yearning It's not a race It's a journey It's not an act It's attraction It's not a style It's an action It's a dream for the waking It's a flower touched by flame It's a gift for the giving It's a power with a hundred names Surge of energy, spark of inspiration The breath of love is electricity Maybe time is bird in flight Endlessly mocking Here we come out of the cradle Endlessly rocking Endlessly rocking It's a hand That rocks the cradle It's a motion That swings the sky It's method on the edge of madness It's a balance on the edge of a knife It's a smile on the edge of sadness It's a dance on the edge of life Endlessly rocking

Submitted by NecroLord — Apr 26, 2025