Painkiller (Hearbeat Suite)

Painkiller has been published in All of Me Vol. VI, courtesy of Shadow Spark Publishing. Title art is by Alex Templin. Closing art is by Bojan Jevtić.

Listen to Painkiller by Richard Charles Stevens (Heartbeat Suite)

Listen to In The House, In A Heartbeat by John Murphy

Tell me of your pains
Your sorrows
Your grief
Peel back your skin
Let’s begin underneath
Unsheathe each vein
Weep the trials that remain
While I bleed narrow lanes of the gifts they bequeath
Unsheathe each vein
Weep the trials that remain
While I bleed narrow lanes of the gifts they bequeath
While I bleed narrow lanes of the gifts they bequeath
.
First cut is the deepest
Finding peace in incompleteness
Tearing down walls that bid safeguard to weakness
Picking up pieces of uniqueness scattered
Being the keeper of all retrieved matter
Hopes may be dashed
A whole cache of dreams shattered
Wings may be tattered
Yet flight can be ceaseless
In complete darkness and drowning in bleakness
You need to believe that you matter
Climb the white ladder attached to your spine
Weave through the sinew and match it to mine
Feel free to bleed me
No pact need be signed
For I see the universe deep in your eyes
I see the universe deep in your eyes
I see the universe deep in your eyes
.
Through first cut to deeper
No tethers be severed
Each tendon a pendant of endless endeavour
No bones of contention
Of woeful retention
Indecent proposals that warrant a mention
One word
Forever
A single crowned gown
One simple laced treasure
Of greatest renown
Braided with faith through the pains on parade
Tracing the smile in denial of your face
Kissing pained eyes for within it reprises
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
.
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
Famed be its rise
Famed be its rise
.
Sustained in its flight
By the faint cries subsiding
Of pain sorrow grief
Freed from internalising
Each vein unsheathed
Wept of trials that remain
In the name of two ancients colliding
Shining through darkness
Unchained ordained harness
Widened of range by embracing the carnage
In blind faith incarnate
Embodied no shame
Far and away from the skies once drained starless
.
Tell me of your pains
Your sorrows
Your grief
Free every teardrop constrained underneath
Feel free to bleed me
Such gifts I bequeath
For I see the universe deep in your eyes
One word
Forever
A single crowned gown
One simple laced treasure
Of greatest renown
Tracing the smile entertained of reprise
Herein lies Phoenix
And famed be its rise
.