Lyrics of 'Aish Tamid' by Matisyahu

The place lays phased like a warrior slayed
Engraved into the space with his sword still raised
Layers of charcoal sprayed through hallways
Praise relays off the walls echoing all ways

Dirt covered earth lays beneath my rib cage
Giving birth to overgrowth invading on to path ways
Burnt out trees cover streets where children once played
Sown seeds decay through sacred stepping stones in disarray
Where the alter used to be placed inter-changed for bloodstains
Sunrays illuminate the smoke filled haze
Trace of incense scents of sacrifice stayed

Aish tamid eternally
A fire burns continuously
Wondering where you been
Won't you come on home to me?

Flash back patches of grass growing wild in fact
Cracked walls burnt black like a kingdom sacked
Memories like artifacts attacked yet still intact
Melodies wrapped in glass and shatter with the impact

Air intermingling ringing with the singing
Of songs once sung, flung into the rafters
Catastrophe struck the sound stuck
Disaster plastered
The aftermath a blasted building once standing, like a starved man fasting
The skies expanding clouds passing, dust particles dancing
In broken bars of light, streaming from a shaft, slashed into the ceiling
Sshhhh, you could feel the ground breathing

Daughter of Zion is lying crying in the mist
Morning light slips in, shifting through the darkness
Like a morning wife reminisce having visions of her long gone prince
Memories drip rain drops tip towing emptiness
Intermixed with tears like fears left unfixed
Walls worn thin frozen fortress like dawn waiting for the sunrise of a day that got skipped
Like a life gone wrong wandering wilderness
Lovesick stripped abyss empty once luscious

Paint the scene so you could see, the city's picking up speed
On a bench 14th street, taxi's streaming yellow streaks
Spears piercing through my ears, you could hear the traffic speak
Jack hammers drill smacking through the cracking concrete
Buildings filled with windowsills spilled tangled telephone wires
Signs sparking neon lights flash like wild fire
My insides rise I start to feel paralyzed
Let out a sigh-a melody blew by- like an ancient war cry
The way the sunlight hit the trees it really caught my eye
Glistening' listening' to the breeze dancing' through the leaves
Freeze, the city move's in slow motion like a dream

I'm left empty like the temple turned into a fox den
Bus fumes dripping spitting into city summer sun
Sifting through the ash dimly lit vision listening
To the hiss lifting off a nighttime ocean
Shim, shim, shimmering singing hair on my skin
Glim, glim. Glimmering, whispering where ya been

From amidst the darkness set sail with the softness
Breeze traveling across the seas arisen from with in Mt. Zion
Wind coming in picking up momentum
Cutting crisply through the thickness riding on a rhythm
A rollercoaster sizzling, twisting down the mountain
Ripping rocket ship exploding like a fountain
Overflowing spilling through the courtyards of Jerusalem
Uncovering debris lifting up the fallen arisen within
To reach the yiddin even in Manhattan
Exposed menorah glowing in the shadows of destruction
Trailblazing through affliction
Brushing off the branches golden
Standing strong flames
Dancing like a lion roaring rising out of nothing