Waking The Fallen (2003) "Remenissions"

[reprinted as written by Avenged Sevenfold]

With this ink in our skin we've sealed our fate,
and the axe comes early
(only naturally) So what does that matter?
There's a bed of skeletons waiting for me,
on the other side
They're waiting for my next move (next fatal breath)
Human lives to me seem so unreal, can't see through the fog
(nothing past a grey wall) see past the stereotype
Belief, structure built up in you.
I'll tear you down and the one who created you

If they didn't have One how would they act?
If we didn't have hope how would we behave?
Would they still feel remorse
if they slaughtered innocent beings?
Or is hope the only thing that keeps you sane?

A good friend once told me we are our memory
without it we equal nothing
And all I can see is the place I wanna be
Suddenly my life was so free
Leaves at my feet, blown to the ground
their echoes are reaching my ears
Nights coming fast, suns going down
But keep away from me... keep away from me

(it's hard, to keep me in this place, keep away from me)

We may have created the beginning, mentally
We may have created the beginning, physically
To the end of our human existence...

I see through you
The fear that's in your eyes

A good friend once told me we are our memory
Without it we equal nothing
And all I can see is the place I wanna be
Timeless my life was so free
Leaves at my feet, blown to the ground
their echoes are reaching my ears
Nights coming fast, suns going down - confused
I don't know the answers but neither do you

There is a certain sense of fatalism in this piece. The ink is dry, the axe will fall, the bed of skeletons awaits. Whatever the protagonist does in this life, he knows what expectantly awaits him in the next.

As the poem unfolds, two groups of people are revealed. One group has belief and structure, they have a relationship with the One which affects how they live their lives. The other group of people do not have this One, nor a sensitivity about human life, but they do have a sense of hope.

The protagonist had a connection with that first group, that's his memory. But suddenly he became free of them, and though it is into the darkness that he is going, he does not want them to come after him.

He knows where he wants to be (far away from them), and he knows what he wants to do (tear down that first group and the One who created them).

But at the very end of the poem he wonders to himself ~ is it possible that his actions will one day spell the end of humanity? He's confused, he knows he doesn't have the answers, but he doesn't think the other group does either.

If we overlay this poem on the rest of Cain's life and his legacy, a pattern emerges.

Marked by God (With this ink in our skin we've sealed our fate), cut off from his people (the axe comes early), he was still hungry for a personal sense of significance. Cain determined to build something that would be a lasting monument to himself – a city named after the first fruit of his own flesh, his son Enoch. In the ancient area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the oldest inhabited cities known to humankind were called, interestingly enough, enoch, which is the earliest word for city in any human language.

The technical brilliance of humankind is highlighted in Cain’s descendants. Here were all the ingredients of modern life -- travel, music and the arts, the use of metals, organized social life, and the domestication of animals. It’s all admirable and progressive, the comforts, luxuries, and advances listed here, but that’s not why this passage is in the account of Cain's life.

Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah.

Cain’s descendant Lamech appears to be the first to have departed from the original ideal that God established with Adam and Eve for marriage. One wife was not enough for him so he took two, Adah and Zillah, the first signs of sexual excess. You would think nothing good could come from such a man, but it is from his offspring that great cultural and scientific contributions came. One son became the father of nomadic herdsmen, another was the first of a line of musicians, and another was the first of the great metal workers. Lamech himself penned the world’s oldest song.

The line of Cain was the source of much that is praiseworthy. In examining the names of Cain's first descendants, his grandson's name, Irad, means “City of Witness” -- witness to the glory of humanity.

His great grandson's name, Mehujael, means “Smitten of God”: God can smite me but He can’t stop me from being a success.

His great great grandson's name, Methushael, means “God is Dead.”

And his three times great grandson's name, Lamech means, “Strong and Powerful.” Of Lamech's sons' names, Jabal means “Traveler,” Jubal means “Trumpeter” and Tubalcain means “Metalworker” with a special emphasis on jewelry and ornaments.

All these names, and none of them give honor to the Lord. Only men. What does a civilization without God look like? Activity, growth, progress, technological advancement, all God's grace to mankind, yet without God civilization degenerates.

Lamech bragged to his wives of killing a young man who had just assaulted him; he had a brutal spirit, vengefulness, looking out for Number One. Worst of all, Lamech showed a total disdain and disregard for God’s word:

Lamech said to his wives,
Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
you wives of Lamech, hear me out:
I killed a man for wounding me,
a young man who attacked me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
for Lamech it's seventy-seven!

God had spoken these words to assure Cain that he would not be killed by the hand of man. He also warned men of the seriousness of such an act. These words were spoken to reveal the fact that God valued human life. Lamech twisted and distorted them as a boast to his violence and aggressive hostility toward man and God.

In the end, all of Cain’s civilization perished in the flood – for all its sophistication, inventions and beauty, none of it was salvageable because of rampant wickedness.

We may have created the beginning, mentally
We may have created the beginning, physically
To the end of our human existence...

Cain's true legacy was godless accomplishment and descendants that degenerated into corruption.

[This song explores the poet's confusion over whether he truly believes in God, heaven and hell]

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