The Dusk in Us

I was so naive and fearful of the substantive Of the greying days, of carrying endless weight And what it really meant to truly mean something To really be someone who could be loved So lost in darkness, in and out of selfishness Hoarding all my dreams was just no way to be Then you gifted me such a precious thing A chance to be someone who deserved love I heard (A single tear) Your cry ring out (A single tear) It showed me what (A single tear) Real strength could be (A single tear) As a single teardrop fell And was swallowed by the sea You outshined the best there was Rewrote who I could be You outshined the best there was Rewrote who I could be When I held you for the first time I knew I had to survive When I held you for the first time I knew I had to survive As a single teardrop fell As a single teardrop fell As a single teardrop fell As a single teardrop fell I heard (A single tear) Your cry ring out (A single tear) It showed me what (A single tear) Real strength could be (A single tear) A single tear A single tear A single tear A single tear

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Eye of the quarrel open wide as the wound I still reach for the sun in spite of all of you I'm my own man built by my own hands Despite all the flaws which remind me of you Eye of the quarrel, is bearing down Eye of the quarrel, bestows the crown Frayed as these veins have always been I still have to wonder who let dysfunction in The little lies, distorted truths Smeared the perspective and made me love you Eye of the quarrel, is bearing down Eye of the quarrel, bestows the crown Queen of the garbage, prince of the weeds My legacy won't inherit disease Queen of the garbage, prince of the weeds My legacy won't inherit disease Queen of the garbage, prince of the weeds My legacy won't inherit disease Queen of the garbage, prince of the weeds My legacy won't inherit disease My legacy won't inherit disease My legacy won't inherit disease My legacy won't inherit disease My legacy won't inherit disease from me

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Don't need a helmet if I have my heart Don't need your war to find peace I don't need to learn to live in compromise I will never kneel and kiss your ring The sickness spreads under duress Compassion bends under duress Wouldn't need a gun if you didn't have one Don't need you to serve or protect I am not a number just patiently waiting To enter the belly of the beast The sickness spreads under duress Compassion bends under duress The delusions of control Are rotting the root of the tree It's the fear that keeps you there And it's mine that sets me free The delusions of control Are rotting the root of the tree It's the fear that keeps you there And it's mine that sets me free The sickness spreads under duress Compassion bends under duress Don't need a helmet if I have my heart Don't need your war to find peace I don't need to learn to live in compromise I will never kneel and kiss your ring

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Fresh faced oligarch, we have grown worlds apart My Arkhipov calm will serve me in due time Turbulence shakes the teeth from the chaos that you speak With every barb that you threw, I saw you list to the side And I won't sink with you, I have so much more to do Promises, the lost cause, but the bones will heal in time My Arkhipov calm will serve me in time Fresh faced oligarch, we have grown worlds apart My Arkhipov calm will serve me in due time Turbulence shakes the teeth from the chaos that you speak With every barb that you threw, I saw you list to the side And I won't sink with you, I have so much more to do Promises, the lost cause, but the bones will heal in time My Arkhipov calm will serve me in time You see the patience is a test, it separates boys from men And my Arkhipov calm will serve me in time It's the fires that we quell that save us from our hells It's the wars that we don't fight that keeps love alive My Arkhipov calm will serve me in time

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

And at night they come, when protectors are gone Not in waves, but in shadows Prancing on the wall, creeping up the bed It's there they thrive and nest within Dear frightened little boy, it's time to rise above all of their noise Ghosts are merely shadows, you are flesh and bone The grudge does not have regrets when there is no past to forget Our denial it speaks in tongues, there's monsters among us And at dawn they'll go with the last shred of hope Someday it'll change, or so they say Just bide your time and try to stay alive Revenge will come with the rising sun Dear shattered little girl, this is not the end of your world It's the beginning of the rest of your life where you do, or you die It's not a trial but a test, just a broken mirror to reflect Our denial it speaks in tongues, there's monsters among us And at night they come, when protectors are gone Not in waves, but in shadows Prancing on the wall, creeping up the bed It's there they thrive and nest within I ask from within my heart, where did our failures start If we must imagine ourselves as someone, somewhere else And what does the future hold, if we're running low on health and hope Our denial it speaks in tongues, there's monsters among us Dusk lives within us Dusk lives within us Darkness won't give up Darkness won't give up Dusk lives within us Dusk lives within us Darkness won't give up Darkness won't give up Dusk in us Dusk in us Dusk in us Dusk in us

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

And the wildlife was hunted not for heart but the hide To warm the bones of cowards that were left behind And the lotus wilts with the guilt of the wasted time What does it say about the ones who never even tried Under constant pressure, diamonds in the rough Only way to light is fighting through the dirt Born into such a cruel, cruel world Survival can be such a cruel, cruel curse Best of intentions will grow horns in sleep Without a sense of purpose outside the dream And our wounds are so noble but still we must see There may not be answers to the reasons that we bleed Under constant pressure, diamonds in the rough Only way to light is fighting through the dirt Born into such a cruel, cruel world Survival can be such a cruel, cruel curse Preciously violent, beautifully abhorrent Preciously violent, beautifully abhorrent Born into such a cruel, cruel world Survival can be such a cruel, cruel curse Born into such a cruel, cruel world Survival can be such a cruel, cruel curse

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Joy escapes through the tangled days (Iron demands fire) Youth escapes through the blur of pain (Iron demands fire) Smoke cloaks the sky, the bell explodes A shudder runs through, we have nowhere to turn When the luster is gone and life loses sight We cannot escape the slipping of time Exodus of Eden led by convenience The murk and marrow are all that we know When the luster is gone and life loses sight Nothing will escape the slipping of time Joy escapes through the tangled days (Iron demands fire) Youth escapes through the blur of pain (Iron demands fire) Smoke cloaks the sky, the bell explodes A shudder runs through, we have nowhere to turn When the luster is gone and life loses sight We cannot escape the slipping of time Exodus of Eden led by convenience The murk and marrow are all that we know When the luster is gone and life loses sight Nothing will escape the slipping of time Love needs to feed Ghosts need belief Love needs to feed Ghosts need belief Love needs to feed Ghosts need belief Love needs to feed Ghosts need belief

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

The sting of pain ripens with age Into a withered recompense Doesn't make a dent in the path you paved Just a flower at the grave of indifference The world's a trigger seemingly without end You have to bury the gun to finally make sense of it No way forward through tangle of veins Just through the thorns and brutal truth Your apologies mean nothing to me When a burning bridge can't be crossed The world's a trigger seemingly without end You have to bury the gun to finally make sense of it Was it worth it? Was it worth it? Was it worth it? The world's a trigger seemingly without end You have to bury the gun to finally make sense of it Your apologies mean nothing to me When a burning bridge can't be crossed The world's a trigger seemingly without end You have to bury the gun to finally make sense of it Was it worth it? Was it worth it? Was it worth it? The world's a trigger seemingly without end You have to bury the gun to finally make sense of it Was it worth it? Was it worth it? Was it worth it? Tell me was it fucking worth it?

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Emotion sickness afterglow A darkness reigns over all But it's the white noise harmony That I find so troubling And the echo of that whisper Said how much better it used to be As a petal fell from the rose Withering as a long forgotten dream Phantom broadcast from the past Predicts the end of all good things But it's the white noise harmony That I find so troubling And the echo of that whisper Said how much better it used to be As a petal fell from the rose Withering as a long forgotten dream Broken by light Broken by light Broken by light And the echo of that whisper Said how much better it used to be As a petal fell from the rose Withering as a long forgotten dream Broken by light Broken by light

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Opportunism Will spread within the land If the parasitic heart That beats in all of us Is unrivaled Crocodile tears Extinguish empathy And we will not survive If this is all there is Feral animals Must not ever be unrivaled We are just cannibals If there is nothing left to love We are just cannibals If there is nothing left to love Cannibals Cannibals Cannibals Cannibals

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

We fell in and out of touch Our distance never meant too much I always wanted to be more Than what you were searching for I know you never wanted this But thank you for giving me your best I knew that you always loved me Though you never said that you did There is no place in this world to hide My shattered smile that life provides Stand up straight take it on the chin Pick up my teeth and start again I never knew the reasons why Somewhere we both stopped trying But when you said that you were dying I said that I loved you There is no place in this world to hide My shattered smile that life provides Stand up straight take it on the chin Pick up my teeth and start again Just start again Numbness makes some sense Without a consequence Something not meant to be Found a way to breathe Numbness makes some sense Without a consequence Something not meant to be Found a way to breathe Thousands of miles between us Between us There is no place in this world to hide My shattered smile that life provides Stand up straight take it on the chin Pick up my teeth and start again Just start again

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026

Futile wars for fruitless words Written by shadow kings Their shrapnel seeds the desert fields And sprouts this fear we see Devils do not need a hell in order to exist Melodies of flightless birds Remind reptilian me That time is not through sharpening Our tested claws and teeth Devils do not need a hell in order to exist We must lose sight of the shore to know what courage means We must lose sight of who we are to know what we can be The enemy will not reveal its mortal form to me The enemy will not reveal its mortal form to me The enemy will not reveal its mortal form to me

Submitted by Pestilence — Feb 21, 2026