Lyrics – Outer Light, Inner Darkness – The Aaron Clift Experiment

Remember the day when the sun kissed our backs? Remember the way light would fill the cracks in our life? Remember our space was free of fear and strife? There was one place the sun rays missed You backtracked into the shade then you walked away Come back, come back to our place to the glen where we began We belong, we belong as one return to the glen where we began kissed by the sun Now I’m waiting for day break when the sun will kiss my wounded face It’s a light you still resist Now I’m only left with one wish: Come back, come back to our place to the glen where we began We belong, we belong as one return to the glen where we began I trudge through the valley and wonder why our space began to break Was I too young, too new, too green to see light could leave us one day? Or maybe I was more in love with the sun and all along, you were the stranger? Kiss me, my sun (We belong as one) I’m alone but I’m back in my bliss The light’s all I need to survive So come my sun and give me another kiss I’m back, I’m back in the glen Returned to the place where I began I belong, I belong as one returned to the glen where I began kissed by the sun © 2015 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Confined inside a cell block the ties that hold my people die They look to me for a key – a key I cast aside

To think I once united they were rope and I was the knot Now the group’s a noose around me and the door to truth is locked

No hope, no revival fear chains me pride binds my fate

Locked up in my own survival mind racing heartbeat fading away

Surrounded by iron gates links of lies seal our decline Even if we try to break free we’d still be slaves

No hope, no revival fear chains us pride binds our fate

Locked up in our own survival minds racing heartbeats fading away minds racing heartbeats fading away

Is there any way out? Is there a place where we can live again or does it just end? Locked in our lies, how can we survive?

No hope, no revival fear chains us pride binds our fate

Locked up in our own survival minds racing heartbeats fading away (locked in lies) minds racing heartbeats fading away

(locked in lies) minds racing heartbeats fading away

How can you see with the fragments of sleep in your eye? Why won’t you sweep them under the place where you lie? You snag your feet when you drag through your day and absent-mindedly sleepwalk the night

How can you think if you won’t even wake? You snag your feet when you drag through your day and absent-mindedly sleepwalk the night

Dreams lay in front of you but all you did was jumble them So enjoy the pieces as you fumble through your rest

You’ll never see with the fragments of sleep in your eye

Dreams lay in front of you but all you did was jumble them So enjoy the pieces as you fumble through your rest

(You’ll never see with the fragments of sleep you snag your feet and drag through the day)

In church light, you eye callow young things who stumble and follow you around Your pray for them in hollow tongues sung without making a sound But the fools don’t know that your hallowed ground is built on a shallow grave And they swallow your shadows, give themselves to your embrace Now in darkness they wallow Your arms hold them to the dark Your arms hold them Hold them Burrow your lies into their skin, tell them: “End your sins and atone” And when your flock tries to repent, suck the marrow from their bones Let their weakened columns crumble to stone, their stained glass melt away All the heroes will be broken, crushed by your embrace and their sorrow will be forever Your arms hold them to the dark Your arms hold them Hold them © 2015 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Awake, Aoide, it’s time to write My mind is running wild I’ve packed the soil, the sun will rise, but I toil in an empty field Pages ache for the maker’s seeds, and you are my rainfall to feed them If you bring your water I’ll have many songs to yield Without your whispers bringing words to my lips, I’m a grain chasing the wind Inspire me, help me begin Plant your roots deep in my mind Pages ache for the maker’s seeds, and you are my rainfall to feed them So bring your water, we have songs to create, and then I’ll sing your praise Aoide, Goddess of Song, I loyally serve you Tune needs a creator Creator needs a muse Aoide, you’re my melody, sound that resonates in the void Choose my words, be my voice Set my music free As clouds race across the sky, your water brings my field to life Lyrics spring up like stalks that grow strong Music blooms to a song I sing in the meadow Sing on the mountain Sing in the valley below Sing in the meadow Sing on the mountain Sing in the valley below I sing your praise with all the notes that I sow With you, everything grows! Aoide, Goddess of Song, I loyally serve you Tune needs a creator Creator needs a muse Aoide, you’re my melody, sound that resonates in the void Choose my words, be my voice Set my music free © 2015 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.

Part 1: The Frontline They tell me: “March for glory ‘til white flags are hung!” “Be the blazing banner parading in the sun!” “When you storm the ramparts, let your enemies feel the fury of you and your gun!” They say: “When the war is won we’ll remember your bravery – your story enshrined in the halls of history.” “All you have to do is kill at will ‘til you clutch the torch of victory” Though I wouldn’t choose this path My direction is clear I guess a light will shine on me So I bind my life to the frontline And pray that all they promised is what I’ll see . . . Part 2: Fool’s Fate Dusk comes early, covers my trench like a veil skylines exhale and I draw a final breath of sunset Mud and debris – the only soldiers who stay ghosts roam the waste laying to rest rusted bayonets Will the dust clear? Will the sun shine? Or did I bind my life to a fool’s fate? And if black’s all that remains when poppies wither and die Will I light a lonely candle, and burn it to the wick? – the only flame flickering in the moonscape? Dust will never clear Sun will never shine ‘Cause I bound my life to a fool’s fate Black’s all that remains when poppies wither and die So I’ll light a lonely candle, and burn it to the wick – the only flame flickering in the moonscape When the war is over don’t remember my folly my story’s a stain in the halls of history ‘Cause anyone can be made to turn their light to darkness They told me: “March for glory . . . “ Part 3: Outer Light, Inner Darkness (Instrumental)

Twisting and straightening spires rise from the waves winding through twilight Selenite veins wrap around like a rib cage circling the skin of night warm to the touch Bathed in moonlight cleanse the rust of a worn age bathed in moonlight on the cusp of a new frame A serene glow stirs calls the tides to converge brings calm to the lake Seeking peace in starlight earth leaves fear behind blind to the opaque warming to trust Bathed in moonlight drawn to the heart’s expanding bathed in moonlight dawn of a new understanding With crystals covering the land and the sky crowned in white, the whole world is an open soul reborn in selenite © 2015 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.