Gallows Hymn - Chiaroscuro

Balancing light and darkness
To create a vision of the divine
In shadow tells a story
Of when nature and desire collide

Two factions at war, one a great family
Patrons of art, victims of envy
In the house of god, butchered before all
Blood fills the streets, violence is law

Cut down like trees, once men of power
Hanging disemboweled from the city tower
Conspiracy is foiled, nowhere to run
Justice is served under the Tuscan sun

Smiling in torment, strength in distress
Your following eyes tell a story of loneliness
Faces of marble, bodies of oil
Fiction to tell truth, immortalized youth

Smiling in torment, strength in distress
Your following eyes tell a story of loneliness
Faces of marble, bodies of oil
Fiction to tell truth, immortalized youth

When all we have left are our memories
Unfinished, our works abandoned
Telling a story of humanity
The joy of understanding

The sacred is portrayed by the sinner in love
The image of Christ, the frescoes above
A brother and sister, bonded in incest
A cloak of ermine, the smell of frankincense

Our faces unmasked, our eyes wide open
Sanctity of marriage, vows are broken
Born into privilege, but power corrupts
Scandal matters not to those beloved

Smiling in torment, strength in distress
Your following eyes, tell a story of loneliness
Faces of marble, bodies of oil
Fiction to tell truth, immortalized youth

Smiling in torment, strength in distress
Your following eyes, tell a story of loneliness
Faces of marble, bodies of oil
Fiction to tell truth, immortalized youth

When the bird has tasted flight
It will stay in the sky, never to look back
To earth it will never return
Once it has spread its wings it will only fly

A beheaded martyr, a prophet a baptist
Portrayed with ardor by a distinguished artist
A sacred image of a saint divine
Salvation obtained for the apostles maligned

Blue eyes shining in the Florentine night
Apprentice to a painter, the stars burn bright
Forbidden love, our one befall
Accusations of the holy in the house of god

I thought I was learning to live, when I was only learning to die
Between the shadows and light, where the beginning and end of all things lie
A beautiful body may perish, but a work of art does not die
Spread and open your wings, like an eagle above you will learn to fly

Written by:
Nicholas Spevak

Publisher:
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid

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