Natura Morta - Exit Slowly

I find myself in a place of dread
Standing on the doorstep of frightening mystery
Have I been re-tracing my own steps?
To reach some long-forgotten memory

What brought me down here
To shiver in gloom
Which roads I’ve travelled
To blister my feet

Silence seems complete
Yet I fancy a sound
A faintest note
Beyond the sea of time

A longing vague and obscure
Unwittingly I have followed
Beguilingly subtle and pure
Yet stronger than all reason

As long years turned to decades
And comfort became prison
All things I held so dear
Have left me broken and hollow

My glorious defeats and useless victories
Bore wretched flowers that blossom only
In deep and desolate twilight

I’ve carried them in shame
To place upon this altar
Let them become my flesh and blood
For absent gods to feed on

The quest has been fulfilled
The sacrifice is done
The ceaseless agony is all but gone

Whatever still remains
Shall be buried inside of me
The softest note of life
Plays no more