First Corinthians

(Verse)

In the candle-smoke of Corinth’s streets

Broken tongues and shattered crowns

Wisdom rots where pride takes root

Knowledge screams but love won’t bow

I speak in voices not my own

Angels weep, the crowd applauds

But hollow words decay to dust

If love is lost, I am a fraud

(Verse)

I give my body to the flame

Martyr’s bones in sacred dirt

Mountains move at my command

Still without love, I am cursed

Mirrors dim, reflections lie

We see in part, we know in pain

What was childish put to death

When truth arrives, we rise again

(Pre-Chorus)

Gifts of fire, gifts of sight

Prophecy in endless night

All shall fade, all shall fall

Love alone outlives it all

(Chorus)

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

(Verse)

O death, where is thy victory now

Graves unchained beneath the throne

What was sown in rot and ruin

Rises crowned in flesh and bone

Corruption sheds its funeral skin

The mortal puts immortal on

At the trumpet, shadows scatter

And the night admits the dawn

(Chorus)

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

(Bridge)

Through a glass, darkly…

Through blood and bone…

When the perfect comes

The partial is gone

(Breakdown)

Love suffers long—

And is kind

Love envies not—

No throne, no crown

Tongues will cease

Knowledge will die

But love—

Love will not lie

(Chorus)

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

(Chorus)

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

But the greatest of these is charity.

(Outro)

Ashes fall where idols stood

Crowns decay, the veil is torn

Faith still bleeds, hope still aches

But love outlives the end of form