Power Lines

POWER LINES

Lines divide, lines connect

Lines expose, lines protect

Lines contract, lines expand

Lines supply, lines demand

chorus:

Lines—– dividing us

All these lines—– one-siding us

All these lines––––— are guiding us

All these lines

Lines unite, lines exclude

Lines are right, lines are rude

Lines withdraw, lines engage

Lines entice, lines enrage

chorus:

Lines—– restraining us

All these lines—– containing us

All these lines––––— sustaining us

All these lines

Lines—– protecting us

All these lines—– redirecting us

All these lines––––— disconnecting us

All these lines

Lines enforce, lines erode

Lines encrypt, lines decode

Lines entrench, lines command

Lines advance, lines withstand

chorus:

Lines—– instructing us

All these lines—– corrupting us

All these lines––––— obstructing us

All these lines

Lines—– refusing us

All these lines—– excusing us

All these lines––––— amusing us

All these lines

Lines are walked, lines are skipped

Lines are chalked, lines are sniffed

Lines are straight, lines are curved

Lines are clear, lines are blurred

chorus:

Lines—– excluding us

All these lines—– including us

All these lines––––— deluding us

All these lines

Lines—– inciting us

All these lines—– keep fighting us

All these lines––––— uniting us—–––

All these lines

Lines are traced, lines are signed

Lines inform, lines will find

Lines are spiked, lines are flat

Lines persuade, lines combat

Lines are drawn, lines are read

Lines feed life, lines go dead 

SHADOWS OF STEEL

A city within a city

An island in a sea of concrete

As far below the captains in cars

Navigate the street

Luxury hotels

Exclusive upscale homes

Teeming residential

And commercial building zones

Dangerous designs

Sky high skylines

chorus:

Building on such a grand scale

Some wouldn't think it wise

Who are they to make a sale

And affect so many lives?

Some have said it helps to spread

And strengthen business ties

The arguments go on and on

While steel still fills our skies

A city within a city

A mountain in an engineered chain

As high atop the kings of the hill

Laugh and sip champagne 

A shimmering high rise

Has blotted out the sun

And casts a shadow on

A decaying city slum

Executive suites

Rooftop retreats

LIFE LINES

Everything has significance

Everyone has reason to live

Every day its ups and downs

Every choice an alternative

 If God and I could now converse

 My questions would be one

 Before there was a Universe

 From where was it begun?

chorus:

Span the spectrum of existence

Untold time, unmeasured distance

We trust new instincts 

And let go of old life lines

As we evolve and we decay

Into an infinite array

Exotic lifeforms

And more wondrous lifetimes

Everything has some influence

Everyone has something to give

Every door its ins and outs

Every "No" an affirmative

 If salesmen selling Paradise

 Had stopped you on the way

 Before you saw the merchandise

 Would you agree to pay?

BREAKING BARRIERS

Some people would suffer first

Than admit they were dying of thirst

  We don't always see

  Stubbornness at its worst

Some people won't even aim

Let alone take a shot at love's game

  They figure the prize

  Isn't quite worth the pain

chorus:

Emotions cause harm

When they're bottled up inside

Do yourself some justice

And confess your love with pride

Emotions leave scars

Time alone will never heal

Do yourself a favor

And tell someone how you feel

Some people look upon love

As a gift they are unworthy of

  Too perfect to match

  Let alone rise above

Some people programmed to think

Love is bought with a diamond or mink

  Too poor to get past

  "Can I buy you a drink?"

Building barriers

Out of reason, out of fear

What motivates us

Even experts aren't clear

Breaking barriers

It's taking too much wine

To open up our hearts

And lay them on the line

POWER LINES 2

A division of labor, a division of power

Societies advance from the Age to the hour

We pride ourselves on our high-end skills

As if it didn't count on a multitude of wills

In robotic cooperation

chorus:

 It's a line of power, it's a clash of forces

It's a knock down, drag-out war for resources

It's a battle to define a society

As a tool for the few or all humanity

It's a matter of remuneration for a measure of participation

An exchange of optimal health

A functional degree of comfort and wealth

For a modern mass population

From competitive species to insidious rival

Cooperation rose igniting our survival

                   They scoff at the cries of the "wage slave slobs"

Who freed up the time for the specialized jobs

And modern mass organization

(chorus)

SOLDIER X

A clenched fist in a face

A lovers last embrace

A boot print in the mud

Filled with a pool of blood

Ransacked stores, kicked in doors

Executions on the spot

Everyone dies as traitors or spies

Doesn't matter if they're not

chorus 1:

Prisoners march - Their fates all sealed -

Gunshots in the woods beyond the burning field

No mercy or recoiling at the screams of terror

When it really isn't human but genetic error

A boy condemned to die

Is put down in mid-cry

A mother and her son

Are ambushed on the run

"Cold and stern, beat and burn 

Be as brutal as you can

Let none survive to crawl out alive

And alert them of our plan"

chorus 2:

Villagers lie - Their heads face down -

Silence falls over the charred and gutted town

No remorse or revulsion for the night of terror

When it really wasn't human but genetic error

It really isn't human... 

VIEWER DISCRETION

Tripping over themselves they granted a god

Unlimited access to our souls

Promising Heaven but delivering Hell

Confession of sins as the camera rolls

It's Judgment Day come rule on Earth

But uncensored and more televised

This world they've created is Heaven x-rated

And viewer discretion is advised

chorus:

Inundated by conspiracies online

In a useless Information Age

Strangulated via digitized grapevine

Killing time in a cold-blooded rage

They cling to a stage where a god can judge us

Without our approval or defense

Where according to some what would Jesus do

Is pass judgment under false pretense

And it's Judgment Day, make no mistake

Now in session and secularized 

This world they've created is Heaven x-rated

And viewer discretion is advised

(chorus)

Secret conversation

Lurid escapade

(And the camera...)

Useless information

Picked up and relayed

(And the camera rolls)

THE LINES OF SIGHT

The houses dot the landscape

Boundaries marked by fence and tree

The spaces that comprise

Our civilized society

A balance of organic charm

And uniformity

Nature and Humanity

At last have called a truce

And the houses stand in harmony

With the maple and the spruce

But underneath the tranquility

Under the days of sunlit rest

The faint but ever growing sound

Is a soul beating its chest

chorus 1:

Angles meet and lines converge

Patterns form and start to merge

Into the lines of sight

The houses hug the hillside

Borders flush, compact, and tight

A bright young girl with life in her veins

On a cold and rocky height

Surveys the hillside homes

In the early morning light

The person and the property

Are not to be defaced

But the lines that separate the souls

Are savagely erased

And every tear looks more like blood

And a chance to quench the thirst

For the carnivores of consciousness

Who are quick to move in first

(chorus 1)

chorus 2:

Shadows fall and shapes are freed

Colors run and start to bleed

Into the lines of sight

The houses line the lake shore...

OPPOSING FORCES 

Opposites of equal force

Share a deadly magnetism

Allowed to run its course

It ends in cataclysm

Love in mathematical terms

Is an algebraic equation

A fatal formula

For mutual negation

chorus: 

Don't mix matter with anti-matter

Don't add a minus with a plus

Whatever you do

Don't add the two

Don't cancel out the both of us

Elements of inverse state

Must be kept at a safe distance

Or suffer the same fate

A life of non-existence

Love in subatomic terms

Is two free and roaming nuclei

If their flight paths intersect

You can kiss them both goodbye

Like speeding trains

On a one-way track

We can't switch lanes

Until one day...