- John Petrucci



'Love, just don't stare'

He used to say to me

every Sunday morning

The spider in the window

The angel in the pool

The old man takes the poison

Now the widow makes the rules



'So speak, I'm right here'

She used to say to me

not a word, not a word

Judas on the ceiling

the Devil in my bed

I guess Easter's never coming

So I'll just wait inside my head



Like a scream but sort of silent

living off my nightmares



Voices repeating me

'Feeling threatened?

We reflect your hopes and fears.'

Voices discussing me

'Others steal your thoughts

they're not confined

within your mind.'



Thought disorder

Dream control

Now they read my mind on the radio

But where was the Garden of Eden?



I feel elated

I feel depressed

Sex is death, Death is sex

Says it right here on my Crucifix



Like a scream but sort of silent

living off my nightmares



Voices protecting me

'Good behavior

brings the Savior

to his knees.'

Voices rejecting me

'Others steal your thoughts

they're not confined

to your own mind.'



"I don't wanna be here, 'cause of my

suffering, 'cause of my illness. 

Only love is worth having, only 

love is what matters, loving every 

people on equal terms. "

"You've got to know who you're 

dealin' with because, like a stranger, 

a-heh, just might come in through

here with a gun... and then, what 

would you do? (Heh.)"

"Everything is immaterial..."

"'n' you know that reality is immaterial."

"This is not reality..."



I'm kneeling on the floor

staring at the wall

like the spider in the window

I wish that I could speak

Is there fantasy in refuge?

God in politicians?

Should I turn on my religion?

These demons in my head tell me to



I'm lying here in bed

Swear my skin is inside out

Just another Sunday morning



Seen my diary on the newsstand

Seems we've lost the truth to quicksand

It's a shame no one is praying

'Cause these voices in my head

keep saying...



'Love, just don't stare.'

'Reveal the Word when you're

supposed to'

Withdrawn and introverted

Infectiously perverted

'Being laughed at and confused

keeps us pleasantly amused

enough to stay.'



Maybe I'm just Cassandra fleeting

Twentieth century Icon bleeding

Willing to risk Salvation

to escape from isolation



I'm witness to redemption

heard you speak but never listened

Can you rid me of my secrets?

Deliver us from Darkness?



Voices repeating me

'Feeling threatened?

We reflect your hopes and fears.'

Voices discussing me

Don't expect your own Messiah

This netherworld which you desire

is only in your mind.