Waking The Fallen (2003) "And All Things Will End"

[reprinted as written by Avenged Sevenfold]
As performed by A7X

Lived through you,
safe with how we lived our lives,
with how it all turned out.
(But things are bound to change)
Uncovered lies, surfaced throughout,
will make you change your mind

Sometimes life is altered
Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

When I see you, I can read it in your eyes,
fate misunderstood.
(But things are bound to change)
Swallowed the lies, can't blame you for,
thinking with your heart.

Sometimes life is altered.
Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
Uneasy with confrontation.
Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

I see my world crumble and fall, before my eyes
I know, I know.
Dark will turn to light, in time I'll be alright
I know, I know
(I never imagined my life could turn out this way
So cold so black so alone)

Living goes by fast, catch your breath
and it will pass you by.
And it won't last, to sulk with the memories you hold.

Sometimes life is altered.
Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
Uneasy with confrontation.
Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

As the poet muses on the unexpected twists and turns of life, he observes that though sometimes what seems hopeless will end in light, and sometimes what seemed good won't turn out right, in the end...there will always be an ending. The song makes the point dramatically as one by one each instrument winds down and the sounds become sporadic, softer and finally, in darkness, comes to an...end.

Knowing that, how should we live? Can we slow down time? Can we suspend the good moments in the air and savor them extra long? Will we be given the luxury to sulk as long as we want to over the disappointments in life?

Some people, as the poet first observes, want to live safe lives, perhaps thinking that by keeping out the risks the pain can be kept out too. Sometimes people put their hopes into an ideal that just isn't true. But at some point, the poet warns, dewy idealism will turn into bitter cynicism.

What is it the poet thinks is false hope?

I see my world crumble and fall, before my eyes
I know, I know.
Dark will turn to light, in time I'll be alright
I know, I know
(I never imagined my life could turn out this way
So cold so black so alone)

Does he believe this is the lie that is uncovered in life, is it the lie he swallowed, that he believed because his heart wanted to? Cold... black... alone. What a description of hell, isolated, deprived of all warmth and light. Does he think that sometimes light can't win over darkness?

Sometimes it feels like that. But darkness overcomes light only when you and I agree to let it. No matter how tiny a light is, it will always be stronger than the dark, no matter how vast the darkness is. Two thousands years ago light came into the world and it's never been the same since,

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn't put it out.

The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn't even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn't want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.

How about it? Would you like to be your true self? Would you like to live in such a way that no matter the vagaries of life, no matter the breath taking disasters, and the pounding of calamities, no matter the unexpected devastation of losses, light and warmth and love will aways be there for you?

You can choose. Come into the light, be flooded and saturated with the bright whiteness of life. Say yes to the rescue Jesus offers you.

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