Tarkus
Jordan Rudess Lyrics

Has the dawn ever seen your eyes?
Have you ever truly been awake and aware in your life?

Have the days made you so unwise?
Have you not learned from the many days you've lived?

Realize, you are.
Acknowledge your true self and existence.

Had you talked to the winds of time,
Have you sought wisdom from the experiences of the past?

Then you'd know how the waters rhyme,
You would understand the patterns and rhythms of life.

Taste of wine,
Experience the richness and complexity of life.

How can you know where you've been?
Without introspection, reflection, and understanding, how can you truly know where you've been in life?

In time you'll see the sign
Eventually, the truth and meaning of your life will become clear.

And realize your sin.
You will come to understand the regrettable mistakes and poor judgment you've made.

Will you know how the seed is sown?
Do you understand the origins and effects of your actions?

All your time has been overgrown,
Your life has been overgrown with distractions and irrelevancies.

Never known.
You have never truly known the important things in life.

Have you walked on the stones of years?
Have you experienced and learned from the passage of time?

When you speak, is it you that hears?
Are you truly listening to yourself, or just speaking words?

Are your ears bone?
Do you have no ability to truly hear or comprehend the world around you?

You can't hear anything at all.
You are not truly listening or understanding anything in life.

The preacher said a prayer.
The artist is a hypocritical religious leader.

Save ev'ry single hair on his head.
He cares only for his own self-interests and survival.

He's dead.
Despite his delusions and self-importance, he is ultimately powerless and will die like everyone else.

The minister of hate had just arrived too late to be spared.
A symbol of prejudice and hatred has appeared too late to be saved from the consequences of their actions.

Who cared?
No one cares about the fate of the hateful and intolerant.

The weaver in the web that he made!
The hateful person's fate was of their own making.

The pilgrim wandered in,
A wanderer seeking spiritual fulfillment.

Committing ev'ry sin that he could
Despite his intentions, he still commits sins and does wrong.

So good...
But he still believes he is doing good and pure things.

The cardinal of grief was set in his belief he'd saved
A religious leader believes they have saved people from eternal sorrow and pain.

From the grave
They believe they have saved souls from eternal damnation.

The high priest took a blade
A religious leader performs a violent ritual.

To bless the ones that prayed,
To grant spiritual favor to those who have pledged allegiance to their religion.

And all obeyed.
The people blindly follow the orders of their religious leaders.

The messenger of fear is slowly growing nearer to the time,
An ominous warning that something terrible is approaching.

A sign.
A warning of what is to come.

The weaver in the web that he made!
The impending disaster is a result of the choices and actions of those involved.

A bishop rings a bell,
A religious leader signals the coming of something significant.

A cloak of darkness fell across the ground
The atmosphere grows tense and ominous.

Without a sound!
The impending doom arrives without any warning or indication.

The silent choir sing and in their silence,
Even in silence, the choir sings and communicates something significant.

Bring jaded sound, harmonic ground.
The choir's music conveys a sense of despair and dissonance, but also underlying beauty and harmony.

Clear the battlefield and let me see
Amidst the destruction and chaos, attempt to find any sense of victory or justification.

All the profit from our victory.
All the benefits and gains achieved from victory.

You talk of freedom, starving children fall.
While claiming to fight for freedom, many innocent and vulnerable suffer and die in the fight.

Are you deaf when you hear the season's call?
Despite nature's warnings and cycles, you still pursue violent conflict.

Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you witness the catastrophic destruction you caused?

Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Witnessing and participating in the destructive flames of war.

Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
The suffering of those impacted by the conflict is visible and palpable.

Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.
The aftermath of the conflict is shameful and tragic.

Ev'ry blade is sharp; the arrows fly
The violence and fighting is intense and brutal.

Where the victims of your armies lie,
The innocent are the true victims of the conflict.

Where the blades of brass and arrows reign
The weapons of war bring destruction and pain.

Then there will be no sorrow,
Only when all conflict ends will there be no more sadness and tragedy.

Be no pain.
The end of violence and war will lead to an end of suffering and agony.