I. Prelude
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When our weary world was young
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The struggle of the ancients first began.
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The gods of Love and Reason
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Sought alone to rule the fate of Man.
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They battled through the ages,
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But still neither force would yield.
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The people were divided,
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Every soul a battlefield.
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II. Apollo/Dionysus
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Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom
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"I bring truth and understanding,
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I bring wit and wisdom fair,
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Precious gifts beyond compare.
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We can build a world of wonder,
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I can make you all aware.
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I will find you food and shelter,
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Show you fire to keep you warm
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Through the endless winter storm.
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You can live in grace and comfort
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In the world that you transform."
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The people were delighted
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Coming forth to claim their prize
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They ran to build their cities
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And converse among the wise.
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But one day the streets fell silent,
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Yet they knew not what was wrong.
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The urge to build these fine things
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Seemed not to be so strong.
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The wise men were consulted,
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And the Bridge of Death was crossed
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In quest of Dionysus
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To find out what they had lost.
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Dionysus: Bringer of Love
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"I bring love to give you solace
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In the darkness of the night,
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In the Heart's eternal light.
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You need only trust your feelings;
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Only love can steer you right.
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I bring laughter, I bring music,
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I bring joy and I bring tears.
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I will soothe your primal fears.
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Throw off those chains of reason
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And your prison disappears."
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The cities were abandoned,
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And the forests echoed song.
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They danced and lived as brothers;
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They knew love could not be wrong.
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Food and wine they had aplenty
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And they slept beneath the stars.
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The people were contented
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And the gods watched from afar.
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But the winter fell upon them
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And it caught them unprepared,
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Bringing wolves and cold starvation,
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And the hearts of men despaired.
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III. Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind
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The universe divided
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As the Heart and Mind collided,
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With the people left unguided
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For so many troubled years.
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In a cloud of doubts and fears,
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Their world was torn asunder into hollow
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Hemispheres.
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Some fought themselves, some fought each other,
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Most just followed one another
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Lost and aimless like their brothers
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For their hearts were so unclear
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And the truth could not appear
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Their spirits were divided into blinded
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Hemispheres.
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Some who did not fight
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Brought tales of old to light.
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"My Rocinante sailed by night
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On her final flight."
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To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome force
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We set our course
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Spiralled through that timeless space
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To this immortal place.
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IV. Cygnus: Bringer of Balance
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I have memory and awareness,
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But I have no shape or form.
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As a disembodied spirit,
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I am dead and yet unborn.
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I have passed into Olympus
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As was told in tales of old,
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To the city of Immortals,
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Marble white and purest gold...
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I see the gods in battle rage on high...
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Thunderbolts across the sky...
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I cannot move, I cannot hide...
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I feel a silent scream begin inside...
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Then all at once the chaos ceased
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A stillness fell, a sudden peace
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The warriors felt my silent cry
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And stayed their struggle, mystified.
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Apollo was atonished;
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Dionysus thought me mad.
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But they heard my story further
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And they wondered, and were sad.
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Looking down from Olympus
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On a world of doubt and fear,
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Its surface splintered
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Into sorry Hemispheres.
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They sat a while in silence,
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Then they turned at last to me:
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"We will call you Cygnus,
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The god of Balance you shall be."
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V.The Sphere: A Kind of Dream
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We can walk our road together
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If our goals are all the same.
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We can run alone and free
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If we pursue a different aim.
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Let the Truth of Love be lighted,
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Let the Love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility,
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Armed with sense and liberty,
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With the Heart and Mind united in a single
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Perfect
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Sphere.
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Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
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Rush |