Burning Portrait

In your mind hangs a picture of yourself

It’s the man that you wanted to be

There were times when you’d stop to admire

The fine strokes of a confident hand

And it’s honesty

Now you’ve covered it over

Now you can’t bear to look

You can’t stand to face up

To what you forsook

Your portrait is burning, burning

Douse the fire now

Burning out of control

Yet you seem so invincible somehow

Once you were revered by statesmen

And cardinals sought your advice

Your name was embossed on the lips of the great

And the good and the famous but oh what a price

Now the paint is corrupted

It's consuming your mind

Devouring itself and each principle

You left behind

Your effigy's burning, burning

Kill this fire now

Burning into your soul

Are you still invincible now?

Enslaved to the dark side of the mirror

From whence there is no return

Bonded for the price of nothing dearer

Than a cause-celebre you'd eventually spurn

The eyes of the portrait, they turn

Glaring at you as they burn

In the end you were tempted away

From the path you had wanted to take

Such is life in the limelight

When you trade integrity for gold

You were warned, Heaven's sake

You had such good intentions

They just melted away

Like the paint on your picture

And now you must pay

Your portrait is burning, burning

Douse the fire now

Burning out of control

Burning, burning

Kill this fire now

Burning into your soul

You were never invincible