Mirror of Souls

[Part I - The House of Mirrors]
Listen to the tale I tell
A haunting dream
I know so well
When walking home
Alone one night
My path revealed by candlelight

Ahead I see an open door
With no idea
What's in store
I glance inside
The door to see
A hall of mirrors beckon me

I take a breath
And step inside
A tale of love
And shattered pride
The door slams shut
A start to run
And it seems
My journey has begun

I run and turn
From side to side
With fear and panic
In my eyes
The vastness
Overwhelming me
Mirrors far as
The eye can see

I see myself in every one
I see the things
That I have done
A thousand forms of flattery
The fear soon turns
To haughtiness in me

Different mirrors
Different shapes
My different strengths accentuate
Each mirror has
A name and face
And all reflect me in some way
I look at them to see myself
To judge my life
By someone else
The metaphors within replete
The mirrors are the
People that I meet

Look at the man you see
(In the mirrors)
The things you can be
(In the mirrors)
The glory of me revealed
In the mirror's eye
(The mirror never lies)
The fire in my eyes
(In the mirrors)
The vanity rise
(In the mirrors)
The power of pride comes
Alive in the mirrors

Gazing in the mirrors I behold
All the greatest chapters
Of my story ever told
In the mirrors
The world is turned to gold

At the end of the Hall of Mirrors
I behold a golden door
I imagine all the beauty
The other side must
Hold in store
So I quickly reach out my hand
To enter the next room
In this promised land
I pull the giant door open
To continue my journey
I step inside
But it slams shut behind me
And I'm back outside
The pouring rain welcomes me
Into the arms of the coldest
Blackest night

[Part II - The Stranger in the Storm]
The light of the mirrors
Has faded away
Into distant memory
As the rain keeps coming down
My candle extinguished
I struggle to walk
A path I cannot see
And the rain keeps coming down

The darkness grows
With every step
I could cut it with a knife
As the rain keeps coming down
I can't see a thing
And I've never felt
So alone in all my life
But the rain keeps coming down

Caught in the fury of the storm
(The darkness suffocates)
Body and soul weary and worn
(Another twist of fate)
Never been so afraid before
(The ending of this tale?)
Never should have opened the door
(From euphoria to hell)

I question my fate, my end
To die in this storm
Maybe this was the plan
Back from the day I was born
But in the hall of mirrors
I had felt so high
I cannot walk another
Mile in this flood
So resigned to my fate
I just collapse in the mud
If I cannot go on
I'll just lay down and die

Suddenly a light I see
Shining in the distance
I make my way toward it
With my fading hope reborn
As I draw near
The light is clear
Though the rain beats its resistance
But I press on and pray
This is a shelter from the storm

Advancing now toward the light
I'm quickly moving forward
This hope has given
Me new strength
I thought I'd never know
But I take a step
And fall right back
For the ground's
Gone beneath me
And I behold, illuminated in
The light's warm glow

A dark chasm
A great abyss
A vast expanse
Of nothingness
A pit that has no bottom
As far as the eye can see
It spans the whole horizon
And there is no way across
My lonely heart is shattered
And all hope I had is lost

I'm startled to feel
A hand on my shoulder
I turn to see a shadowed
Figure standing in the rain
But somehow
I'm not afraid of him
Even when he speaks my name

And somehow I can tell
That he means me no harm
Just by the peace that
I see in his eyes
And even though I've never
Even seen him before
It's like he's known me all my life

Why are you crying?
The stranger asks
As I wipe away the tears
I point toward the great abyss
The source of all my fears

I must get across
And get to that light
For it represents
My only hope tonight
But when I saw the chasm
All that hope was lost
I've spent so long
In the dark and the rain
That the sight of the light
Made my heart sing again
But the gulf's so wide
And there's no way across

The stranger smiled
And took my hand
He said: But you are wrong
My friend, you cannot cross the
Gulf yourself, that's true
He led me down toward the edge
And pointed just over the ledge
And said: Behold, I built a
Bridge for you

I cross the bridge
Toward the light
The stranger saved
My life tonight
I turn to try to thank him
But he's gone
A long way to the other side
I'll make my way
Without my guide
No time to waste
For I must carry on

The bright light shines
Forth from behind
A door beyond description
Blood and scratches mark the door
From ages of abuse
I'm confused no more
For above the door
Is a weathered
Old inscription
All who would see reality
Enter the Hall of Truth
And so I do

[Part III - The Truth Revealed]
As I step inside
I can see another mirror
A mirror so bright
That my eyes must turn away
A mirror so high
I start to question all the others
And as I stand there
In the Hall of Truth
My heart can only say

Show me the truth
I don't know what to believe
For the mirrors all showed
Something different to me
And my pride has
Given way to misery
I've spent so long
In the dark and the rain
That the sight of the light
Made my heart sing again
And the stranger built
A bridge across for me

Behold Thyself!
A voice rings out
In paralyzing thunder
It echoes all
Throughout the hall
And sends me to my knees
When the voice calls my name
I'm overcome with fear and wonder
As I slowly start to rise
And face the great mirror
In front of me

When I open my eyes
I have to close them again
But still the image is
Burned into my mind
A face with eyes
As black as night
A terrifying sight
The flesh rotting away
In sickness and decay
It's mangled by disease
I'm unable to breathe
Tell me what manner
Of creature this could be
'Cause it's not me

I run away as fast as
My feet will carry me
Back to the door
Leading into the night
Even the storm that
Almost claimed my life
Was better than this
And so I throw open
The door and see a man
(The figure of a man)
The stranger from
The storm returns again
(To save me once again?)
I see understanding in his eyes
(He's seen this all before)
Maybe he can tell me what
I saw behind that door

Tell me what I saw in the mirror
Before I ran away
Tell me what I saw in the mirror
That face of sickness and decay
Tell me what I saw in the mirror
That left me terrorized
Who was that I saw in the mirror
With the lifeless, blackened eyes?
Was it a demon
From the fiery waves?
Was it the undead
From beyond the grave?
Oh the face that I beheld in the mirror
Left me paralyzed
Won't you tell me what I saw
In the mirror on this night?

The light from the mirror
You saw from afar
The Mirror of Souls shows
All men as they are
You entered the hall and
You asked for the truth
The man that you saw
In the mirror was you

No! Don't show me the truth
'Cause I don't want to believe
What the Mirror of Souls
Has revealed unto me
And the face I saw
Reflected cannot be me
Dying and lost
In the arms of decay
I do not recognize
The face I've seen today
And if you say that's my face
I must disagree

The meaning
Of these things I saw
The mirror is the
Holy eyes of God
The truth unveiled before me
With these words
Of the stranger

The mirrors you saw
In the hall long ago
Were mirrors of lies
Not reflecting the soul
When you look unto others
To see what they see
You see an illusion
Deception, false reality

I have seen my soul in the mirror
And it has broken me
I have seen myself so much clearer
Than I had ever seen
Can't you take away
All this sickness
From my soul and set me free?
You can save me, I believe

And then he said
Arise, my child
Your faith has made
You reconciled
Now gaze into the
Mirror once again

We walked together
Through the door
And I looked in the glass
Once more
But the only one
Reflected back was him
Somehow the only one
In the mirror saw was him

Gazing in the
Mirror of my Soul
Staring at the man
Who took my place
And made me whole
In the Mirror
The Mirror of my Soul