Lyrics
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
Come a little closer, friend, the lamps are running low,
there's a face beneath this golden one I'd never let you know.
I died once like the rest of you, and down I went to stay,
but I gave away my name and every yesterday.
I slipped inside a borrowed cloak the ferryman let fall,
and walked back past the Lord of Death — he never saw me at all.
[Pre-Chorus]
So smile when they tell you it's all written in the stars —
I'm the one who wrote it, and the lie was always ours.
[Chorus]
Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there,
just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care.
I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep,
the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep.
Trust me, trust me — that's the only word I need —
and I'll take the truth like memory, one quiet grain to bleed.
[Verse 2]
I never tell a lie outright — I leave a door ajar,
a promise with a hollow in it, true as far as far.
The gamblers light their candles and the cheats all say my name,
and worry does my labor when I never lift a flame.
You think you hold your story tight, your past, your who-you-were —
I grind it down to nothing, soft as ashes in the air.
[Pre-Chorus]
The honest god of sunlight wants you certain, wants you whole —
I'd rather watch you wonder till there's nothing left to hold.
[Chorus]
Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there,
just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care.
I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep,
the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep.
Trust me, trust me — that's the only word I need —
and I'll take the truth like memory, one quiet grain to bleed.
[Bridge]
You ask me what's behind the gold — go on, then, lift the edge.
There's nothing there. That's the gift. I cut myself from every pledge.
No name, no grief, no morning, and no debt the dark can claim —
the only soul that ever cheated death forgot to keep his name.
[Bridge build]
And every mortal weaving lies has worn a little of my face,
so the marsh kings rise in golden masks and take their hollow place.
[Final Chorus]
Watch the mask, not the man, and the man was never there,
just a kindly little promise and a knife behind the care.
I am the doubt behind your eyes, the worry in your sleep,
the secret you were certain that you'd manage not to keep.
Believe me, believe me — you already chose to —
the deception was the offer, and you opened it like new.
[Outro]
Look at the stars and you'll swear that you can see me there —
a god that built himself from a face that isn't there.
