The Mad Monks Map

The Mad Monk’s Map Lyrics by Mack Hollowpoint Arrangement by M.H.B. I found a folded parchment in a hymnal left behind Ink the color of old river mud, lines drawn with a trembling mind Nine circles carved in spirals like a wound beneath the land And a note that said the world was shaped by an unsteady hand They say a monk went quiet in a stone room by the sea Studying the weight of sin and what a soul is meant to be He drew the map in candle smoke and never saw the sun Claiming Hell was not below us but a place we all become So I walked those circles in my heart Every one a place I knew Limbo felt like childhood And Lust was something true Anger burned like summer And Fraud wore Sunday clothes By the time I reached the frozen lake I felt the cold I chose The monk went mad so quietly the others never knew He whispered that the deepest sins were the ones we carry through He said the map was not a warning but a mirror for the lost A way to see the price we pay before we count the cost So I walked those circles in my heart Every one a place I knew Gluttony was comfort And Greed was something due Violence lived in silence And Treachery in lies By the time I reached the frozen lake I saw my own disguise I folded up the parchment, and I tucked it in my coat Thinking maybe Hell is something we can carry like a note Something written in our choices, something carved into our days Something we can leave behind if we can learn another way So I walked those circles in my heart Every one a place I knew But I climbed back up with open hands And left what was not true The monk had drawn damnation But the song became a guide A way to rise from frozen ground And reach the other side