BARD’S SONG

                            By Shelby Lee Chandler II

Aftermath

 

From the aftermath of battle,

My comrades before me lay,

Defeated by the winds of change,

Soon to come a world so strange,

With a future cold and gray.

 

My sharpened blade, now dull with rust,

For here honor hath no meaning,

Greed takes the place of chivalry,

For men’s only vision is what he sees,

And what’s seen is for his taking.

 

Shining armor paints not the scene,

For men wears nature’s colors,

To survival’s laws they must abide,

And within the forest shadows hide,

For deadly are the arms of war.

 

Nations stands with thieves as kings,

The scrolls of peace immersed in dust,

Neighboring states, so worlds apart,

And hate is held within their hearts,

And their people hold no trust.

 

A world of fools, where cruelty rules,

Is fated for destruction,

How much more will Nature stand,

Of people ravishing the land,

Before retaliation.

 

I ask thee why I could not die,

Was I forsaken by the past?

Could I give up this broken shell,

And free my spirit from this hell,

To soar to Avalon at last.

 

But Hope, she calls, a silent voice,

That my being here hath meaning,

The world I knew would be again,

And to show her ways I must begin,

For time’s a wheel that’s turning.

 

My honor lost, is now restored,

For I was meant to take this path,

My blade now sharp, my armor bright,

With the hope once gone as now my light,

I walk the aftermath.