The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started in 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96). The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
I'm having trouble hearing the loud voice in my mind
It's screaming out the warnings which are happier left behind
Like a ship which ploughs untroubled through a sea of burning oil
So our heads are firmly stuck in sand and all our thoughts recoil
Three score and ten
Is all we're men
And damn what happens then
Sunlight glistens brightly on the metals meant for war
East and West smile across the wall, each are afraid to draw
Black and white wait to fight but neither can win at all
And the mess they'll leave won't be fit to breathe
but choking, men will still call:
Three score and ten
Is all we're man
And damn what happens then
The puppets dance and nod their heads while gold pulls all the strings
Their claims to rule and guide us all are as worthless as their grins
They take the young and teach them death but call it bravery
But soon there'll be no-one left to fight; there'll be no-one left to be
Three score and ten
Is all we're man
And damn what happens then
spoken:
Run swiftly down the tunnel of time
Past the stones of discontent
Through the thorns of pain
And on
Run swiftly down the tunnel of time
The sunshine of life
The storm and after, the rain
And on
Run swiftly on
Life doesn't seem long
The lessons of the past
Were taught to last
So teach the brain
And never the rain
Shall wash the stain
On the flaking tomb of man
Three score and ten
What happens then?
The tale grows longer every year
To talk, to walk among last year's ghosts
The faceless faces... O the lines that tell of
sweet bitter places
Sands of time veil across my eyes
Today is yestermore-never
Words of the past... fill the mouth to bend
Staring to these white walls and waiting for them to vanish
Feeling of cold grows stronger and sight is blurring in these tired eyes
No questions remain anymore as they're all wiped away
Only this moment where time stands still reaching its limits
Stillness awaits while touching the calmness merged with pain
that soon will cease to be with my shattered consciousness
River is flowing down in constant movement, further down
Slow aching movement and last shadows of horror appear to this gruesome sight
Too weak to move anymore lying still awaiting the darkness to come
Sight is growing dim and white turns to black drifting away, away
Can't turn back the time, it's claws mangle what's left of me
Oh! the sun was in their eyes
And the desert that dries.
When the wagons leave the city
For the forest and further on
Painted wagons of the morning
Dusty roads where they have gone
Sometimes travelling through the darkness
Met the summer coming home
Fallen faces by the wayside
Looked ass if they might have known.
Oh! the sun was in their eyes
And the desert that dries.
In the country townes
Where the laughter sounds.
Oh! the dancing and the singing
Oh! the music when they played
Oh! the fires that they started
Oh! the girls with no regrets
Sometimes they found it
Sometimes they kept it
Often lost it on the way
Fought each other to possess it
Sometimes died in sight of dax.
Oh! the sun was in their eyes
And the desert that dries.
In the country townes
Spirits of multiverse
Unspeakable presence of malice
Heading towards the infinite
Ordained with crown of disdain and irreverence
in the principality of nightmares' inheritance
Rays of the addling planets
intoxicating,contaminating
Wretched distortion of light
Inanimate ventures to struggle
View bleeding in coma
Shapes dancing around a pallid scenario
Wrapped in murder
Hours go by as the lights grow dim
paintings of black and red on the floor
Silence engraves these wounds
Walking in the park and my feet just can't keep still
You said you loved me last night and I know you always
will
Oh, it's gonna be alright
I'm gonna wait until
Love you; love you til the end of time
Friends gotta tell us what love is all about
Don't know, but I think they're gonna help us out
Oh, it's gonna be alright
Til we go to church
Love you; love ya, yeah I'm gonna love you til the end of
time
Friends gotta tell us what love is all about
Don't know, but I think they're gonna help us out
Oh, it's gonna be alright
Til we go to church
I love you; yeah I'm gonna tell you now I'm gonna love
you til the end of time
Yeah I'm gonna love you til the end of time
Oh girl I'm gonna love you til the end of time
Yeah I'm gonna love you, love you, love you, love you til
the end of time
Why the kettle dry
Why the empty eye
Why the vacant sky
Why the sunspots cry.
The kettle dry
the sunspots cry
the empty eye
the vacant sky
and you ask me...
Why the kettle dry
Why...
Well, you aint gonna like it
Well, you aint gonna like it, darling.
If you want you can buy it
but it wont wait, darling.
You say you want to understand
You say you won't be underhand.
Why the kettle dry
Why....
Why the scarecrow cry
Why the rainbow fly
Why the planets die
Why the kettle dry.
The scarecrow cry
with an empty eye
the rainbow fly
in the vacant sky
the planets die
and the sunspots cry.
The kettle dry
and you ask me...
Why the kettle dry
Why...
Well, you aint gonna like it
It's no use tryin to fight it, darling
It's so bad I can't stand it
I'm moving out, darling
It's time you came to understand
You never again will hold my hand.
Why the kettle dry
Why...
When the night wind cries on the Bloodred feathers
Containers groan as they come together
And the loaded roadsigns they point to never
Don't let it sleep
Don't let it fall asleep
When seagulls cry from the powered drains
Computers call back from the hearts of cranes
And the Tanks of Tigers prowl through the brains
Don't let it sleep
Murder becomes essential in preserving the worlds beyond within
Last night I slept with mother earth
She become my precious whore
Now night breeds the flock of stillborn thoughts
There's nothing more
Flesh and soul are but words
Insomniacs transparent phantasms
Worlds within worlds
Unchanging chemistry and science
Sleep for you'll never see any of me
No..
Now I'm standing under bloody rain
I wish I had had words, but they never came
Now I'm standing beside the dead
I wish I had had something I've never imagined
You're just one, one among others
They're taking me away..
Cold within myself
I stare to empty gloom
Languishing years predicting the end
Were there even beginning at all
Lying above myself
Gazing at my body
Ravage of empty self
Pale soulless embrace
Opium has left my veins
Reality's gruesome knives lacerate my flesh
But I'll never cry
Please leave me be within these shades of grey
Shadow of myself or was it god
There's voices in the walls all around
Mocking my weary distress
Duplicating memories of nowhere
Aching inside convulsive sleep
Foam and worms among broken glass
Absence of time, abrasive roar
Why do you feed me with needles...
Why?
Trial shall open now
The mirrors awaken
Breeding monsters, demons within
Judge is me transformed, multiplied
There's no place for me to rest anymore
Torn from inside, bleeding in vain
There's no place for me to live anymore
Trapped inside the wait for a dawn that's never here
Writhing in terror
They're coming for me
Demons of my sleep returning through the ages
Calling for anyone, but none will hear
There's nothing more but the pain
This neverending pain
I bid farewell to everything and cast my last breath
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as
night
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as
night
Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
There's been enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder
where she want to go
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross
the pond
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross
the pond
I packed all my clothes, throwed them in and they rowed
me along
When it thunders and lightnin' and when the wind begins
to blow
When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to
blow
There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then looked down on the house were I used to live
Backwater1 blues done call me to pack my things and go
Backwater blues done call me to pack my things and go
'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no
more
Mmm, I can't move no more
Mmm, I can't move no more
Woman I can't stand it
How you look at others the way you do.
Please don't do me wrong
because I'll never forgive you.
Well, I just want to love
Love you my who life through
I'm tellin' you.
People tried to tell me
How our love was doomed from the very start.
I wouldn't listen
but soon I know youre gonna break my heart.
Why would you leave me
Why not believe me
How much I love you
I'm tellin you now.
How many moments of pain
Have passed through my life.
Since I've met you baby
My world has been filled with strife.
So stay no longer
my love will go stronger without you
From now on it's downhill and shadows for me
From now on life's easy, easy as can be
If I quit now I'm still twenty years further on.
I had a dream that told me of someone
Who'd give all she had to me
That dream told me of somewhere
Where two people could be free
That land's downhill and in shadows
And that's where I'll be
From now on I'm not searching
I've got nothing to lose
I had a dream that told me everything
I've got nothing now to choose
It's all downhill and shadows
Baby, don't you leave me in this world alone
We'll go and see somebody
Who won't shake his head and moan
Doctors can do anything,
It is said, today
I'll do anything, I'll even pray
but don't you leave me alone like this
I couldn't stand it without your kiss
so don't go
Don't you go.
Well, there must be something
that will cure you true
Is there anything that I can do
I just can't stand it
without your living breath
but all that's left for us
Is your certain death
but baby don't you go
I couldn't face the world alone
so I'll follow you
I'll follow you.
To the ends of the mountains
I'll tread a path
just to hear once more
your fragrant laugh
I'll swim great rivers,
and I'll swim the seas
I'll do anything, anything to please
so well go together and face the things to come
I'm not afraid
Moments languish in their absence while silence moans
Paralyzed in dormancy, lifeless slumber drowning in emptiness
Senses still flicker awaiting the hopeless awakening to a vague travesty of being
Carrying human body in a long dead soul
I've abandoned the flame once burning within
Seeking only the depths of fathomless stillness
Surrounded by wills of the wisp in this reeking swamp
Where demons swarm by my side
Once I gazed upon a mere reflection of light
As if through the eyes of the living
Reflection has gone and will never return
Diving into prodigious landscape beyond experience
Stars have died in this desolate wasteland of infinity
Limits collide and shatter into endless parallels
Physical form has ceased to exist, only spirit without carrying form
Outside the form as the breath of howling winds and darkness
The world never appeared in reality nor even a wretched dream
Black holes open wide in between the galaxies unseen
The consciousness has escaped from its bounding walls
Open wide the gates to unreality...
Disappear into the waving stream...
Darkness as your guide..
The truth that I sing
And the words that I bring
Are all meant for you
The trees they are full
And the minds they are bare
And this time I care.
Everyone has a car
But they won't travel far
Nobody here has the sunshine like I have.
Sad sad town, sad sad town
In the burning desert
Shanty town, shanty town,
Shanty town of the millionaire
A man will awaken one morning
Alone in the big brown gras
A millionaire alone in the burning desert.
Here am I alone in this city
Ain't that a pity
I just want to leave
And get away from Lost Angeles
Earthquakes and smog
Are driving me out of town
I don't want to be here
I don't want to be around
Take me away if you please
I do not want to live in Lost Angeles
I don't want to live here
Just want to get back home
I don't want to be here any more
I want to be on my own
Take me away if you please
Great abundance of grief, prosperity of poverty and wealth of misery prevails
Losses you gain with weakness as your power while rejoicing at your plentiful agony
Darkness as your guiding light, winter frost keeps you warm through the night
Gallons of absinthe to keep you sane, only death keeps you alive
Solitude as your companion and silence to hear your cries
Hatred for you to cherish and pain for you to enjoy effusively
Flying to stay on the ground, Fleeing to face the present
Wavering empty minute when existence flows towards its persistent fate
Blear imagery before your eyes
Seen defeat behind glass, mantles of smoke
Asking nevermore what went wrong
Scars shall heal no more
All you gave wasn't worth a dime
Empty stare - bleeding wrists
...and not a single smile will ever appear on your face
Emotions decay and pass away
Rotten corpse of compassion ravaged and raped
The air is grinning wheeling colours of the womb
Bleak time stands still here
Frozen vastness of nothingness
I feel nothing but pain
Can't escape the infinity of screams
I writhe in unending bliss of torment, neverending
So blind to my being that once existed beyond agony
Slowly I drift to slumber exhausting
to awake in another reality
More unforgiving and..
Cruel
Hollow walls painted with tears uncried
Sullen chambers for dead to lie
Close your eyes and try to see
You asked me to a party
to a house just by the moon
You gave me silver loving
the end was all too soon
You asked me to the theatre
in a place quite near the sun
You gave me golden sunbeams
your act was all in fun
Rope ladder to the moon!
You asked me to a meeting
in a cottage in the snow
You gave me central heating
I can't forget the glow
You asked me to a weekend
down by the stormy sea
You took me to a ceremony
and the sacrifice - was me!
You asked me to a stormcloud
up near the rainbow's end
Then you threw away the ladder
and gave me to your friend
You took me to a prison
and you said it's chief was me
Then you locked me deep inside you
and threw away the key
I've gazed beyond the stars and infinite space
Beheld the dimensions unknown to man
I've shaken while seeing the laws of time and space crumble to the pits of pandemonic horrors
For what I've invoken can't be banished
and I'm too weak to fight
Alone I tremble in underground chambers of isolation
Pits where grotesque ungodly beings scream for centuries
Called beyond the universe of mortals
I've opened the gate and now it's too late
The Great One will appear, the ultimate death draws near
For Mankind
Tunnels filled with maddening stench of hell
Inbred creatures that will rip human flesh
Screams of pain and timeless terror
From below the day of doom shall come forth
Standing at the gate and waiting
Dark waters stir again
The coming of the apocalypse
Destruction of all that I've once held dear
Standing at the gate and waiting
Dark waters stir again
I suffer this terror until I face my death
Take me back to that day before light
When the earth spinning faster and the air too hot
No creature had moved or showed its might
And life was a tiny dot
Nothing existed to love you
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back to the court to kings
When the world was ruled by knights and flail
When poor people prayed for the grace of God
And Lancelot fought for the Grail
And I would have loved to have saved you
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back to that time before time
When life was ridden at the pace of a snail
When the long hot Summers of youth were golden
And power was a billowing sail
And I would have had the time to love you
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back to the last time we met
When all I could see was the light in your eye
And the sides of your face were pale and wet
And deep inside I started to cry
And you didn't believe that I loved you
Take me back
Take me back
Vast fields of ice prevailed by gloom
Still they flicker in relentless storm
Echoes resound through the years
Silent screams that will never leave
Spheres of chaotic reign
Beyond sleep - bereft of life
Escape the earth through nebula
Enter the mind
Walking through the seasons unchanging
You saw the autumn long time ago
Winter's grasp choked its' quiet roots
Lying dead beneath the snow
Were you ever here at all
Absurd of absurdities
Now close yourself within unending sleep
Floating among angels of blood
Gargoyles chanting in circles of stone
Enter disappearance and blankness eternal
Gargoyles chanting in circles of stone