Thorsten Gabriel

He hangs there from a tree
With his head inside a noose
His gaze no longer follows us
I go deep into my thoughts
It was a long time ago
When I look up again
There stands a tree
And on that tree hangs a man
His head inside the noose
With empty eyes
Staring blankly at me

I turn my head aside
And there stands a second tree
Dangling from it is a woman
In a white dress
With a silent smile
In her head a dark hole
Was she shot with a gun
And then hanged up high
The wind moves her dress
But her smile remains

Next to the woman grows a third tree
From above he looks down at me
The rope around his neck
His eyes tightly closed
A knife is stuck in his chest
An older man with a beard
A rigid stare
A story without words

What has happened here
In this forest of the hanged
People hanging from the branches
Ropes whispering in the wind
The young and the old
Women and men
The trees know what
No one tells anymore

Not a single step further will I go
I seek the way out
From this graveyard of wood
By day no one saw the dead
But in the darkness
They show their face
With the dim light came the goosebumps
I found the way out
And set up a sign
Danger the forest of the hanged

What has happened here
In this forest of the hanged
The night shows its shadows
The ropes sing in the wind
The young and the old
Women and men
The trees whisper what
The villages conceal

Strange things have happened here
The villages kept silent
They said the forest calls the children
Voices in the dark
Darkening the hearts
Drew them onto the paths
Until they met at midnight
At the hangman's tree

What has happened here
In this forest of the hanged
The night calls their names
The ropes whisper in the wind
The young and the old
Women and men
The trees remember
Until the morning conceals them

Close your eyes the light awakens
Procedamus in lumine marchons dans la lumiere

Procedamus in pace
Cum angelis resonemus
Portae caeli aperiuntur
Et lux aeterna spirat

Through the silence of the ages
The heart remembers its origin
Chaque souffle devient priere
Chaque ombre devient flamme
The voice of heaven calls your name
And peace descends like morning light

Rise in the light of your soul
Let the spirit sing again
Dans le silence tu trouveras ta verite
In the light you remember who you are
Procedamus in lumine forever and free

La terre murmure encore la grace
Les etoiles refletent tes yeux
Time dissolves into devotion
And the world becomes a hymn
Laisse revenir le chant de l amour
Let the light within unfold

Procedamus in veritate
Cum angelis cantemus
Lux cordis redit ad originem
Et pax manet in aeternum

Walk into the dawn
Feel the sky unfold around you
Les ombres tombent derriere toi
La lumiere devient ton guide
You are not who the world told you to be
You are who the light remembers

Rise in the light of your soul
Let the spirit sing again
Dans le silence tu trouveras ta verite
In the light you remember who you are
Procedamus in lumine endless and pure
La premiere lumiere respire en moi

Procedamus in lumine
Lux eterna manet
Que la lumiere demeure a jamais

We have to deal productively with cognitive dissonance
But that is obviously a bit of a struggle for you
Contradictions conflicting thoughts and feelings trigger discomfort
And so we tend to overlook things get sidetracked forget details and see only what we want to see

By that point you are only talking to yourself because there is no one left who wants to listen to you or can
You visit them at the cemetery then talk to headstones
And revere their inscriptions they cannot contradict you
The stones stay silent and the answer is the sound of stillness
Now you know you are lonely look there is the wallpaper on the wall

The carpet crawler lies on the floor Next to you you see the cat
You give it a shake Memories and longings come tumbling out The more you shake the more of the past of what your
Life once was emerges Now the cat is dead
It does not make a sound

There was the blank paper no names or words
You wanted to write a life to reinvent yourself Nothing came of it Now that
The years have passed you hold the paper
Not a single word written there ever came from your pen
Not a word from you or your thoughts

It was not the last thing because it was the most important thing
But because life wanted you to see in its weakest moments
Just how lonely you are when no one comes

We have to deal
We have to deal productively with cognitive dissonance
But that is obviously a bit of a struggle for you contradictions conflicting thoughts and feelings trigger discomfort
And so we tend to overlook things get sidetracked forget details and see only what we want to see

This school has been my world since I was 10 years old
I thought I knew this world inside out
But I was terribly mistaken right in our midst
A hatred grew that cost 13 people their lives
Now all are carefree innocence is gone

I think of the fear that will not go away
That haunts us even in our sleep
I think of the tears we have shed
And the tears we have yet to shed
I think about how tired I am of crying
And every day every hour I think of my friends
Vanessa Julian Paul Thomas and Elizabeth who died
I did not know the others

We were all the same at this school except for one
One who was different
Wanted to be like the two of them
Like Bonnie and Clyde
His pale face always cast downward always alone
During breaks no one spoke to him
No one listened to him

This school has been my world since I was 10 years old
I thought I knew this world inside out
But I was terribly mistaken
Right in our midst a hatred brew
That cost 13 people their lives
Now all our care innocence is gone

Then the day came for classroom fear to screaming
Shrieking cries for help
Until the first shot rang out
Came the silence

My name is Andrea
And for me nothing is the way it used to be
Until the rampage came and the intent
To attack and kill in blind rage
Heat up