Shadow of the cross

In the midst of the desolate night sky
The furnaces still burn
Exhumed by the petulant death throes
As dust we return

Stood here on the brink of the wellspring
The very font of life
From the depths of the crystal waters
The scents of death arise

No purpose is ordained
Blind chance and chaos reign
Seeming growth, veneer of progress
Masks relentless decay

By the shadow of the cross
I melt the earth and power the sun
By painstaking inch peel back the guise
Begrudge your secrets
Truth become plain to my eyes

By the shadow of the cross
I age the earth and forge the elements
By the power of reason we cleanse the scourge
The covenant is broken
Flock to the razor of occam

With trembling hand the mirror raised
Reluctantly to meet our gaze
Light at last is shone within
The caverns of the mind

The illusion stands revealed
Liberty is thus repealed
Free will and the flow of time
Mere constructs of the mind

Three of space and one of time
A single point or a rippling line
A united force four of a kind
A pliant space unyielding light

A regal truth or an impoverished lie
A certain fate or the rolling die
A single source a finite time
An embedded code for an emergent mind