songs
the exchange

song info


The music to this song was composed by 2AM, and its lyrics were composed by Albert Dwan. It is the tenth track on the album Dirt Road, Volume II.

song lyrics

These dreams return,
of fear and death:
From times and thoughts
I had long since left.
Let my will not falter,
Nor my purpose stray;
Let the Dark not alter,
Nor obscure the Day.

Over the hills, a song is sung
of peace and penances past.
In subtle echo, seduction's begun;
How long will my silence last?

So simple would this life be,
Had these eyes had no chance to see;
For, in that moment's glimpse was forgot
A lifetime's fruits and fragility.

Chorus
Do I hold the strength in my heart
To turn a blind eye to this exchange?
To decide the price is not my part,
The cost of that which I reclaim.

But so long has desire wrung it's desperate hands,
That to resurrect the fire in this blood demands
A counterweight, a loss to this gain:
Sorrow for joy, pleasure for this pain.

To give a body to this voice,
To give a presence to this void,
Need I only commit to this choice
Then it's only guilt I must avoid.

Chorus

The shadows move under this mist,
Guiding me to the abyss.
Tremble not, my hesitant hand;
I've but only this one chance
To open the door that cannot open,
To turn back the tides of time,
To reach into the darkness
And grasp a memory,
Breathe life where life is no more,
And forget, just for this instant,
The other that the dark will claim
In her place.
Forget, just for this instant.

Silence has a way of forsaking,
of burying the past in time;
But the shifting sand's reclaiming
Is replaced by something of mine.

Chorus

These dreams return,
Of fear and death;
From times and thoughts
I had long since left.

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