Aish Tamid

Matisyahu

The place lays phased like a warrior slayed 
Engraved into the space with his sword still raised 
Layers of charcoal sprayed through hallways 
Praise relays off the walls echoing all ways 

Dirt covered earth lays beneath my rib cage 
Giving birth to overgrowth invading on to path ways 
Burnt out trees cover streets where children once played 
Sown seeds decay through sacred stepping stones in disarray 
Where the alter used to be placed inter-changed for bloodstains 
Sunrays illuminate the smoke filled haze 
Trace of incense scents of sacrifice stayed 

Aish tamid eternally 
A fire burns continuously 
Wondering where you been 
Won't you come on home to me? 

Flash back patches of grass growing wild in fact 
Cracked walls burnt black like a kingdom sacked 
Memories like artifacts attacked yet still intact 
Melodies wrapped in glass and shatter with the impact 

Air intermingling ringing with the singing 
of songs once sung, hung, flung into the rafters 
Catastrophe struck the sound stuck 
Disaster plastered 
The aftermath a blasted building once standing, like a starved man fasting 
the skies expanding clouds passing, dust particles dancing, 
in broken bars of light, streaming from a shaft, slashed into the ceiling, 
Sshhhh, you could feel the ground breathing. 

Aish tamid eternally 
A fire burns continuously 
Wondering where you been 
Won't you come on home to me? 

Daughter of Zion is lying crying in the mist 
Morning light slips in, shifting through the darkness 
Like a morning wife reminisce having visions of her long gone prince 
Memories drip rain drops tip towing emptiness 
Intermixed with tears like fears left unfixed 
Walls worn thin frozen fortress like dawn waiting for the sunrise of a day that got skipped 
Like a life gone wrong wandering wilderness 
Lovesick stripped abyss empty once luscious 

Aish tamid eternally 
A fire burns continuously 
Wondering where you been 
Won't you come on home to me? 

Paint the scene so you could see, the city's picking up speed 
On a bench 14th street, taxi's streaming yellow streaks 
Spears piercing through my ears, you could hear the traffic speak 
Jack hammers drill smacking through the cracking concrete 
Buildings filled with windowsills spilled tangled telephone wires 
Signs sparking neon lights flash like wild fire 
My insides rise I start to feel paralyzed 
Let out a sigh-a melody blew by- like an ancient war cry 
the way the sunlight hit the trees it really caught my eye, 
glistening' listening' to the breeze dancing' through the leaves, 
freeze, the city move's in slow motion like a dream 

I'm left empty like the temple turned into a fox den 
Bus fumes dripping spitting into city summer sun 
Sifting through the ash dimly lit vision listening 
To the hiss lifting off a nighttime ocean 
Shim, shim, shimmering singing hair on my skin 
Glim, glim. Glimmering, whispering where ya been 

From amidst the darkness set sail with the softness 
Breeze traveling across the seas arisen from with in Mt. Zion 
Wind coming in picking up momentum 
Cutting crisply through the thickness riding on a rhythm 
A rollercoaster sizzling, twisting down the mountain 
ripping rocket ship exploding like a fountain 
overflowing spilling through the courtyards of Jerusalem 
Uncovering debris lifting up the fallen arisen within 
to reach the yiddin even in Manhattan 
exposed menorah glowing in the shadows of destruction 
trailblazing through affliction 
brushing off the branches golden 
standing strong flames 
dancing like a lion roaring rising out of nothing