Awesome / mewithoutYou

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• The first part of "Torches Together" is a rousing call to unity and spiritual transformation. Special mention to how the verses almost sound uneven and unsure before the chorus is confidently shouted out.
• The final section of "Four-Word Letter" can only be described as half fiery sermon, half spiritually-themed Dare to Be Badass.
  You strike the match
  Why not be utterly changed to fire?
  And sacrifice the shadow in the mist
  Of a brief life you never much liked son
  If you'd care to come along
  We're gonna curb all our never-ending
  Clever complaining
  And who's ever heard of a singer criticized by his song?
  We hunger
  Though all that we eat brings us little relief
  We don't know quite what else to do
  We have all our beliefs
  But we don't want our beliefs
  God of peace
  We want you
• The entire sung portion of "Messes of Men" is incredibly powerful, with the singer at-first detailing his spiritual struggles in life before he shifts to resolutely declaring his dedication to his new path.
  I drank a thimbleful of fire, and I'm not ever going back
  Oh, my G-d!
  • Note the contrast between being surrounded by waves in the ocean, yet being transformed by a mere "thimbleful" of fire.
• The final, shouted verse of "O, Porcupine" is an absolutely epic expression spirituality and passion. As in "Messes of Men", he once again reiterates his struggles in life before nonetheless continuing on to rawly express his dedication towards God.
• This part from "A Stick, a Carrot, & String":
  And the snake who held the world a stick, a carrot, and a string
  Was crushed beneath the foot of your not wanting anything
• The Beetle King's death in "The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate". A simple fire is so alien to him that he's fully willing to fly directly into it just to truly understand what it is. And he may have even ascended to a higher plane of existence by doing so!
  They said, "Our beloved's not dead, but His Highness instead
  Has been utterly changed into fire"
  Why not be utterly changed into fire?
  • His Final Speech on the omnipresence and magnanimity of God is also something to behold.
• Everything Elephant does in Ten Stories.
  • Elephant completely derailing the circus train with nothing but her own weight in "February 1878". After giving an epic Rousing Speech exhorting the animals to flee as well.
  • Being utterly unfazed by her captor's attempt to Break Them by Talking, and telling him that he's only criticizing the "laws of cause and effect".
  • Facing her imminent execution with complete calm and acceptance in "Elephant in the Dock". As well as expressing the fact that nothing the mob can do can truly hurt her in any meaningful capacity.

    Elephant refused to swear the oath, said "I don't know anything about truth
    But I know falsehood when I see it, and it looks like this whole world you've made"

    -

    Brandish your ropes and your boards and your basket-hilt swords
    But what is there can punish, like a conscience ignored?

• Walrus deserves a mention. Unlike Peacock, he evades capture from the police (despite being a massive, semi-aquatic creature), and seems to have no difficulty surviving in the wilderness, unlike Fox and Bear. This in addition to the fact that he made his way from the train (mentioned as being near Trout Creek, Montana) to Athabasca Falls within what is implied to be only a matter of days; a 700 kilometer-long journey.
  • In "Nine Stories", he's also revealed to be centuries-old and to have had traveled across to far-off locations all over the globe. Owl proposes that he join him and continue journeying...but Walrus only brushes him off, being perfectly satisfied with his current station.
• Bear throwing himself to his death to save Fox in "Bear's Vision of St. Agnes". As one literary analyst put it: "This is not merely one animal dying so that another may live".
  This is life itself.
  This is truth.
  This is escaping the Circus at last.
  This is rebelling against everything the institution has forced down his throat
  This is Bear betraying himself and dying to himself.
  • "If you improve, we all improve"
• In "Julian the Onion", the titular character delivering an absolutely cutting "The Reason You Suck" Speech to a crowd mocking him for his appearance. As well as the fact that his words are beautifully eloquent and calmly delivered towards people who presumably believed him to be mentally handicapped as well.
  Wooden dimes and quiet fears, come curl your lips at me
  But all perceptions are as mirrors, it's your own reflections that you see
  So hide behind your laughs awhile, look handsome though you may
  Oh do enjoy that saccharine smile, for their comes for you a day
• As dark as the subject matter of "Mexican War Streets" is, there's still something distinctly epic about Aaron recounting his decision to absolutely refuse to give into despair and end it all. "To heck with all the drugs my parents did" indeed.

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