These Lies, Our Chosen Roles*

*from "Of One Blood" by Shadows Fall

Decadence and degradation, after all it's worth at least a paid vacation.
It's time to go under the cloak and dagger, for one last night, I'll turn and swagger.

I've got too many chips to cash out now, and I'm not yet done being under the plow.
So you pour this shit in front of me, right there where all my eyes can see, but I'll have the control you'll never be.
It wasn't denied for lack of brain, no matter how ill-gotten the gain, it was what kept me from going insane.

But I'm stronger than all now, the blindfold is gone.
I'm seeing more than all now, between the right and wrong.
I'm making amends now to all I've hurt,
but I can't take the blood off my own shirt.

It's time you saw what they made me do.
This was the crux of my new attitude.
But the truth is something worse I can't stop.
I can't deny wanting every last drop.

So what do I face and how do I replace all the locations I am going?
How many times must I repeat the crimes to all the new people I'm knowing?
And how the hell do I fight the smell of the bottles so beautifully glowing?

I've got no answers, no time left, not another moment to act bereft.
I've got just enough energy here to contemplate this theft.