You Want It Darker

If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game

If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame

If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame

You want it darker

We kill the flame

Magnified, sanctified

By the holy name

Vilified, crucified

In the human frame

A million candles burning

For the help that never came

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

I'm ready, my Lord

There's a lover in the story

But the story's still the same

There's a lullaby for suffering

And a paradox to blame

But it's written in the scriptures

And it's not some idol claim

You want it darker

We kill the flame

They're lining up the prisoners

And the guards are taking aim

I struggle with some demons

They were middle class and tame

I didn't know I had permission

To murder and to maim

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

I'm ready, my Lord

Magnified, sanctified

By the holy name

Vilified, crucified

In the human frame

A million candles burning

For the love that never came

You want it darker

We kill the flame

If you are the dealer, let me out of the game

If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame

If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame

You want it darker

Hineni, hineni

Hineni, hineni

I'm ready, my Lord

****

If you ask me, these lyrics directly address the Roshi in those final days when Leonard hung around still hoping to be crowned as the successor, and receive Dharma transmission or the "love that never came."

Knowing the truth about his oldest student, who had lied, murdered, maimed what could the old man do?

Here Leonard makes the usual defense: he was following orders, it was written in the scriptures, he was crippled by fate, he didn't know ...

Refusing responsibility, still expecting a reward in the end.

Would the Roshi humour a maniac, stringing Leonard along for decades, dangling a carrot only to withhold it at the last minute?

Yes, that's what I think happened.

And Leonard's closing statement is a threat. "You want it darker/ We kill the flame."

If you don't let me rule the world, "we" will blow it up.

The Sampson Option, set to music.

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