---

Amidst beauty and bounty

The betrayal was inevitable

Yet disturbing nonetheless

And of what effect are my prayers

Quod me nutrit me destruit

Simple concepts that shall never come to be

Words I cannot say aloud

Thoughts that will not relent

Torture that inequitably burns my soul

Scars layering and pain unrelenting

Spirituality and heresy

Seasons of irony a moment of clarity

Monuments of doubt

Malevolent blooms and thorns

Bitter springs eternal

Anthems of the apostate belay hopes of fools

Paradise denied

Paradise denied me

I am afflicted

Terrors and nightmares

Paradise denied

Paradise denied me

I am tormented

My dreams and despair

My days of hell in the Garden of Eden

In this idyllic garden

Promises and poisoned fruit

With each sunrise and setting

The serpent mocks and laughs

Quod me nutrit me destruit

Man placed eastward in Eden

Chaos spawned in consequence

Demons savage those I love

I bleed alone

The heavens and earth accomplished

Majesty resplendent and yet I

Drink again from fount of disappointment

Monuments of doubt

Inane thoughts and futile rituals

Cascades of hypocrisy

Hopelessness and festering wounds

Paradise denied

Paradise denied me

I am afflicted

Terrors and nightmares

Paradise denied

Paradise denied me

I am tormented

My dreams and despair

My days of hell in the Garden of Eden