Monuments atop the summit of the mind But stone pillars turn to dust when attention shines That granite chips when the point of observation pries Them cornerstones are prone to crumble right before our eyes Now that's the truth in lies Grave deceptions are but servants of the wise Deluded in our grandeur like a fool that's in disguise But strip away the surface and reveal the great divide Between the ornaments of culture and the meaning of our lives Before we lay in ash I feel ascension giving way at last Into the valley once more now we go Into the gray, into the ground down below You can search the afterlife for pearly gates But only manner of the earth can serve to wipe the slate Reject what's given or accept it, that's the choice you make But destinations are determined by the steps we take So make that great escape That fixed belief it will fracture before it changes shape That chain holds firm up until it shatters amidst the ties you break Don't root your feet or you'll never manage to slide and shift your weight Turn about face and imagine what can happen, see that's the twist of fate They found the treasure but their pockets are full of toys And their victors of status but of true spoils they can't enjoy Although no man's an island within many of them exists a void And they will forever forfeit pa**age across the bridge that they've destroyed In the hollow of our hands we survive Drifting through the meadow next to mountains in the sky No method to the madness but in madness they will climb Why settle in the heavens when the river's in decline To arrive is to wither and erode To rest upon your laurels is to shrivel to the bone To catch the unexpected ditch the devil that you know And if you get to where you're going then there's nowhere left to go Before we lay in ash I feel ascension giving way at last Into the valley once more now we go Into the gray, into the ground down below