Fear Yourself

Just outside the black lines my father drew the face of a girl
 And I didn't hear the words that the old man said
 Would crush the whole world
 My mother's eyes caught mine as she took the pen from my hand
 The brothers and the sisters just whispering "Hallelujah! Amen"
 Fear yourself is all I heard
 Horror-struck from the Holy Word
 There's only so many times you can ask for forgiveness
 And as the saints came down to receive
 The spirit moved and they earned their reprieve
 But outside those walls they mauled the witness
 And we got back to business
 The blur of living two lives, sometimes you have to compromise
 (That's what you tell yourself?)
 You become the aesthetic, set-apart and prophetic
 (But for how long? It won't work!)
 But hide away the wrong things that somehow you just can't beat
 (And it gets worse)
 Everything is hidden and you can't
 Remember why you believed every word
 Fear yourself is all I heard
 Horror-struck from the Holy Word
 There's only so many times you can ask for forgiveness
 And as the saints came down to receive
 The spirit moved and they earned their reprieve
 But outside those walls they mauled the witness
 And we got back to business