Subsignal

mers
but through it all
was no common ground
we were close yet so far away.

in many subtle ways you've killed the coil
with your monumental dreams
with your simple-minded dreams, yeah
there is a lonely place inside your head
where all voices fail to reach
and even angels fear to tread, oh

outside open secrets spread
both of you were meshed together,
just like savants living in a world
where you only pretend to care.

in many clever ways you've killed the coil
with your monumental dreams
with your simple-minded dreams, yeah
there is a distant place inside your head
where all voices fail to reach
and even angels fear to tread, oh

and your biography
is like a looking-glass
there's someone you don't know…
there's someone no one knows…


02. Paradigm

Lyrics by Williamson
daylight sleeps as night falls
and marks the end of the day
while half the world lies sleeping
the other will start to find its lonely way

what do we do when no one needs us
where can we go when no one cares

what do we do when no one wants us
living a life with nothing there
open our eyes to a new beginning
open our minds to a paradigm
open our hearts to an understanding
in the face of adversity, not this time

i will walk this earth
i will cleanse this life
and I can justify my reasons
propaganda has run strong
etymology's sacred song
as they will multiply their legions
gravity holding me, space surrounding me
the threats of life as they keep binding me

wire in the blood, engine in the heart
ignite the light i feel is fueling me

I understand the reasons why I fall apart
finding my strength, controlling pain
a stronger and fuller heart which yet I have to gain

and in my paradigm I see my inner self
it's looking back at me, my entity
a life-support with reason and intend

through these eyes
for everything that I have seen
and my empathy that fills the spaces in between

as I am standing here
bathing in the morning light
as time moves forward I can understand
that in all of my empty thoughts lie

for all the things that be
and for all the things I see
energy that all around is holding me
me lifeline through the matrix of our times

close my eyes so I may see
into the blinding light


03. The Sea

Lyrics by Steffen
something broke the even surface,
camouflaged and partly blind,
parading fireflies
in the orange light.

something nameless woke
when we
closed our eyes to the burning salt
on an island surrounded by the sea and the darkened earth.

each other's perfect luck
and each other's pain
each other's promise
and each other's guilt

each other's blessing
and each other's curse
each other's everything
each other's loss

each other's blue sky
each other's rain
each other's sunlight
and each other's night

each other's paradise
and each other's hell
some things remain
while others get lost

I saw the writhing shapes of men
bathed in moonlight,
beautiful and monstrous,

we're a song felt in the deepest bones,
felt the soothing wind like a lover's warmth,

we're like butterflies
with flailing wings
inside the palm

just a picture dear
swallowed by the sea, by the sea…..


04. The Trick Is To Keep Breathing

Lyrics by Steffen
how can we move on
with all the scars that numb the soul?
how can we just simply smile
while half the world is going down?

(this time, going down, this time)

oh, if love is not enough this time
what is left to cling to?
while avidity just grows, the more we know
the less we seem to care

all that we can do in this cold
all that we can do in this emptiness (this emptiness)
all that we can do in this life
all that we can do is keep breathing now (keep breathing now)

all that we can do in this light
all that we can do on this winding road (this winding road)
all that we can do in this life
all that we can do is keep going on (keep going on and on)

so many times we blindly throw away
what has been given
and even more times we surrender to
the writing on the wall

(this time, it's going down, this time)

and you and me holding a plain truth
that change is no illusion
but in the wake of circumstance we'll walk on to
where the story ends

all that we can do in this cold
all that we can do in this emptiness (this emptiness)
all that we can do in this life
all that we can do is keep breathing now (keep breathing now)

all that we can do in this light
all that we can do on this winding road (this winding road)
all that we can do in this life
all that we can do is keep going on, going on and on


05. Walking With Ghosts

Lyrics by Steffen
find you here no more
just an empty space
everything is sleeping
in this shadow

all files erased
all memories replaced
everything is waiting
in this shadow

I can't let go now of this shadow
I won't let go now of this…

I remember your hands
tugging me like a rope
to my perdition, to my desire

I remember your voice
calling me in your embrace,
soothing me, consoling me, drowning me

when you stole from my room
the mark and all the precious words that you
left upon my soul
wouldn't let me grow
wouldn't let me find my way

the world got much older then
and I wonder if I tried
to strip my life of all you were,
to cover all the tracks
that led us to our yesterdays

I paint ourselves in pictures,
unsheltered yet unspoiled,
the frames are made of liquid air
of the moon and starlight

I need to fill the space with all my yearning
to quench my thirst with all songs that you left me,
it's time now to elevate the myth of you

still walking with your ghost
still walking with your ghost

so lead me out of this darkness and this shadow
so I can begin where we ended then,
it's time now to minimize the myth of you

forever walking with your ghost
I'm walking with your ghost
cause forever I'm walking with your
I'm walking with your light alone


06. I Go With The Wind

Lyrics by Steffen
don't you worry
cause I'm safe and calm right now
evening's falling
and I'm nourished by the rain
Markus Steffen
they say that leaving
is a way of going down
torn asunder
on a long and winding road

so now a train pulls out at night
the wind sits in my sails
you know that I must be going

when all is said
and tides pull in and out
summoning my name
I can't stop…

all through the night
alone with the wind
until the memory haunts me again

all through the night
alone with the wind
anywhere I lay my weary head

dark is coming as
I'm holding out
all we are is
all we are ever longing to be

home is where I am and where I go…

it's all gone now
the port of Larne in the mist
moving onward
to shorelines in west

the sea is roaring
with voices of goodbyes
but I'm sheltered
Saint Christopher by my side

they say that going
it can only bring you down
I might end up
end up as I began

but all is said
and tides pull in and out
whispering my name
I can't stop

all through the night
alone with the wind
until the memory haunts me again

all through the night
alone with the wind
anywhere I lay my weary head

dark is coming as
I'm holding out
all we are is
all we are ever longing to be

home is where I am and where I go…


07. To Hope The Road Is Long

Lyrics by Bertok
There...Stretching on for miles
Roads to paradises unfound
To your Elysium
Dare...
To search those marble isles
And your wishes hit ground-
The ancient atrium
Notions keep spinning inside us
Motion keeps bringing the tide
More
Of those Winding tracks
And the blinding traces inside the mind
Your ego's trembling cracks
Personal-Divine
Lies the truthful wine
Son of travel you'll be and sing
And someone else returning
Walk On
Be your road never-ending
Wisdom
Is yielding to its bending
Homeward
As long as we grow finding
Wayward
And it's twisting without turning back
Learn
The wordless thoughts
Hope that you´ll journey on
And that your road is long
Silence whispers
And your heart still sings
And whoever you'll meet again will think
That someone else was returning
Walk On
Your road be never-ending
Wisdom
Is yielding to its bending
Homeward
As long as we grow finding
Wayward
And it's twisting without turning back
Without loosing its track
Making you weary,
Making you sleepy
"Keep your silence, deaf to sirens, blind to comfort, blind to rest
and steadily..."
Yielding indulgence
Yield to their presence
Walk On
Your road be never-ending
Wisdom
Is yielding to its bending
Homeward
As long as we grow finding
Wayward
And it's twisting without turning back
Taking
More than we leave behind us
Waking
The thoughts that never found us
Wayward
A source of deep enlightenment
Homeward
And it's twisting without turning back...


08. Beautiful & Monstrous

Lyrics by Steffen
outside my window
a world in shades of grey,
things break and never really heal,
and still I must be clinging on to something
to feel alive…

when all the earth is sleeping in the dark
don't look for me and all the words I said
cause there are things that must remain concealed
thought we were one, thought we were one once

I keep on searching cause I believe
believe life to be worth more than a dream
would you release me from all that I feel
would you just save me from going down

Mother, help me through the longest of nights.
Mother, save me so that I can walk on,
walk on with light in my eyes
walk on with light in my eyes

hear the mountains roar and
watch the skies collapse
the deserts drink the rivers
as shore swallows the sea
a metaphor, a mirror,
pictures that delude
compromise the beauties
and apogees of things

Mother, help me through the longest of nights.
Mother, save me so that I can walk on,
walk on with sun in my eyes
walk on with sun in my eyes
in my eyes

put a blanket on this freezing soul
of my emptiness and insecurity
that fears that love is
that fears that love is to die next
warm me with an ancient wind of time,
mighty Gaia, immemorial and plain
pour your poetry over me now
cover me to sleep beneath the stars


09. The Last Light Of Summer

Lyrics by Steffen
Firenze 1992
the sun was setting, setting still
upon the bridge of old

the river was an open road ahead,
a highway without end, all pines were dark.

we did paint a fresco of our lives
with wine, did carve our names in marble white

beneath the monument
where Dante lost his one true love

but the unicorns
have all disappeared
and left us standing alone
in the last light of summer

the millboard sword is broken,
the endmost dragon slain and lost,

and if we could go back again now
we only found two shades left mourning for those days

and all unicorns
somehow disappeared
leaving us standing alone
in the fading light of summer


11. Rain Is The Most Beautiful Color

Lyrics by Steffen
so this is what it feels like
so this is what it looks like
so this is what it tastes like
the effigy of sadness

let the rain wash over me
let the pain wash over me

so this is what I feel like
so this is what I look like
so this is how I see it
the ultimate essence of pain

this is the gentle touch of rain
this is the color of my soul
this is the beauty of it all
this is the poison and its cure

lay down, lay down beside of me
don't be, don't be afraid of
the pour

rest your, rest your weary head
let go, let go of all you have,
have known.

you might think
I want to stand in this grey shade
despised by all that lives and shines
you would be wrong

you might think
everything I see and breathe
is the fading light of fall
you're so wrong

for everything I see and breath
everything I hear and feel
everything I write and say
is my life

everything that makes you turn
makes you turn away from me
makes you turn away from me
is my peace…

this is the gentle touch of rain
this is the color of my soul
this is the beauty of it all
this is the poison and its cure