Oh To Love

Oh, to love,
Oh, to love.
A curse upon this forsaken life.
Oh, to love,
Oh, to love.
Pain so sharp, a twisting knife.
Oh, to love,
Oh, to love.
What must I do to save my child.
Oh, to love,
Oh, to love.
Torment so strong and dread so wild.

To love, to hurt, to suffer so,
Would be better never this love to know.
But he lives, he dreams, he wanders still
through this maze of memory shrill,
A battered soul, a troubled mind,
no peace for him to see, to find.
How can I sleep, how can I dream?
I wake to silence, in fear I scream,
Oh, to love,
Oh to love
How can I breath, how can I smile?
How can I walk another mile?
No peace for me, the thought so vile,
To suffer so love’s anguished trial.
Oh to love,
Oh, to love
I live to free my beloved child.
Oh To Love.

GemQuest, Book V, When Monsters Call Out The Names Of Men

Intent

He sings the song of a traitor’s death,
he paints the walls of sorrow,
he writes the verse of perpetual mourning,
he dances with tomorrow.

love the face of a forgotten memory,
kiss the lips of fate,
hold the hand of a rancorous enemy,
recline on the bed of hate.

He pierces the eyes of the silent betrayer,
he stabs the heart of pain,
he slashes the limbs of the constant stranger,
he buries the victim’s remains.

Shake your fists at errant lightning,
shelter the ones you’ve saved
beat the drums of eternal resistence
roar like a tidal wave.

He carries his burden to the river of dreams
he bathes in the waters of madness
he renews his heart in the vibrant streams
he purges himself of the sadness

Forgive those whose fate cannot be mastered
absolve them of their blame
loosen the bonds of faith’s conviction
return to them their names

‘Tis not the hand that throws the knife
nor the fist that batters
’tis the heart of darkness come to life,
the evil that truly matters
without intent we are no more
than silent, empty urges
a wave that laps upon a distant shore
eroding what it purges
when there’s nothing left to recognize
among what still remains
how will you march once more to war
upon these desolate plains?

GemQuest, Book V, When Monsters Call Out The Names Of Men

Are You So Sure?

You think the rain will always fall,
and that the sun will rise each day,
the water will rush to the shore
and the dead will rest where ‘ere they lay?

With Autumn’s end comes Winter’s snow,
Yet you trust the trees will bloom again,
and that the leaves will once more grow,
although we die, the soul remains?

And when the day fades into night,
and darkness steals away our sight,
have you no fear of evil’s might?
No doubts, no inkling all’s not right?
You’re certain dawn will bring the light,
and nature’s course will heal the blight?

That waters all flow to the sea,
and birth and death will always be?
That mothers bear the newborn babes
and precede their children to the grave?
That air is always here to breathe,
and fire burns when flint is struck?
That good things come when you believe,
and fate is more than random luck?

What would you do?
What would you say?
What actions would you take this day?
Is it the law?
Is it the way?
What price are you prepared to pay,
if you should hear the Dark One say,
‘I am the wind of change today!’

GemQuest, Book V, When Monsters Call Out The Names Of Men

‘Tis the Deed That Matters

Time goes by and by and by,
death and birth and death and birth and death and birth.
Step upon the clay just once and shape forever our hallowed earth,

A solitary tear may fall
upon a distant star,
In darkness deep a child may call,
from places neither near nor far,
Beware lest you yourself become
the one who grabs but never grasps,
the one who cannot see the sum
for the things that happened in the past.

A tree may fall in a desolate wood,
A wave may wash a distant shore,
A wish may ne’er be what it could,
A child may yearn for more and more,
Yet all that lives and all that breathes,
all that walks and all that sees,
all that dreams and all that needs,
all that binds and all that frees,
leaves its mark upon the sacred ground,
none need be there to hear the sound,
to know the lost were never found,
to feel the water meet the sand,
remove what yet is in the hand,
or see him walk upon this land.

Be not so bold as to assume
that all will be as it should be soon,
if actions speak with words unheard,
be not dismayed along the road,
’tis not the thought that fulfills the need,
the answer lies within the deed.
Find the truth you dare to dream
upon the page no one has seen.

GemQuest, Book IV, Revenge of the Elves

What Will It Be?

Could it be? Will it come to pass?
Is the gloaming of the trees verily here at last?
What of all that they protect?
What of those they hinder?
Is it due to their neglect
or to the storms that linger?
After his fall?
After it all?
After the hounds of death come to call?
After strife has taken the life from the ones who fear her most?
Who can save a bleeding heart
when none dare come too near her?

After eleven have been plucked
from the darker death they sing of?
After what has come so near,
still has so far to go,
After what the wise ones fear,
and can’t find the words to speak of,
After time has passed beyond
the prophet and the seer?
Who shall come to bind the one,
into its soul to bring her?

Not a child,
A youngling though regardless of her might,
A star upon a virgin skin,
a mark that’s found its light.
Must she rise before the storm?
Will she stand or cower?
Who can know what is to come?
Who will claim the power?
To accept or decry,
to proclaim or renounce,
to remain or to leave,
to withdraw or to pounce,
The weight of choice is so heavy upon her,
how will she find her way?
Will this be our final hour
or the dawn of a brand new day?

GemQuest, Book IV, Revenge of the Elves

Choices, Choices, Choices

What is this life for?
What path must we choose?
The more that we struggle, the more that we lose.
We kill to preserve,
We die to survive,
A contradiction in terms?
Yet we are still alive.
Is the battle we wage worth the price of the fight?
If death is the victor, what matters who’s right?
What spirit protects us when day turns to night?
And the shadows that threaten consume all the light?
Who shall guide us? Who will it be?
The deaf cannot hear and the blind cannot see.
Of brothers and sisters, of the captive and free,
of the old and the newborn, of the land and the sea,
of those chosen to lead us, of those who yet disagree,
who will emerge, when our hopes have been dashed?
Are there heroes among us?
Have they the strength to stand fast?
Will they come to the rescue
When the black die is cast?
What harbor protects them?
Who shelters their mast from the foul winds of war?
Will he destroy us at last?

On the edge of despair we balance and totter,
Is safety the true one, and dare the imposter?
He does not push us,
The choice is our own,
to leap or to stand up to the evil we know.
The choice to accept, the choice to deny,
The choice to consent, the choice to decry,
the choice to be stalwart, the choice to pass by,
the choice to embrace the truth or the lie.

We hold back the night that has darkened his moon.
Pity the chorus that ended too soon,
While the armies of madness march to the tune
of a song gladly sung by this prophet of doom.
His music is rife with sadness and grief,
yet he smiles and he prances,
he dances and swoons,
His joy is a bitter and poisonous pill,
tempting the weak and thwarting the will.
Seeks he the boy or the man for his kill?

Forsake not the warnings, succumb not to sorrow,
give to the child what he has come here to borrow,
No tower can be as safe as it seems,
A wall is no shield from the violence of dreams.
You provide him a shelter, you lend him the means,
What appears a betrayal, what appears more than fate,
What appears the design, what appears consummate,
What appears to be harsh, what appears to berate,
What appears as an answer too little, too late,
Hides a truth so enormous it cannot be seen,
A thread in the fabric that holds fast the seams.

GemQuest, Book IV, Revenge of the Elves

Tomorrow’s Song

Caught between the thoughts that give
and those that take away…
A longing to go forward,
the reasons yet to stay…
Perched upon the steepest edge,
with choices still to make,
A step onto the fragile ledge…
All others to forsake.
A move that takes you to a place
from which you can’t go back.
Is it need that drives you forward so,
Or is need exactly what you lack?
What motive lures your spirit on,
Who beckons you to dance?
Is it fortune that brings you to this choice,
Or is it merely chance?
Is it destiny,
Is it pride,
Or is it simply fear,
Is it virtue,
Is it envy,
Or is it fate that brings you here?

Does a pure heart know the difference
Between the image and the dust?
Is the light so bright you cannot tell
what can be from what must?
To go, to stay…
Will you find your way
‘Tween credence and mistrust?
‘Tween a love that’s true and lust?
‘Tween the righteous and unjust?

Do you see the contrast yet
between what you give and what you get?
A bleeding heart is all that’s left
when reason turns to rage.
Within the mists can you discern
the path of peace for which you yearn,
a language they have yet to learn,
The devil from the sage?
The paper from the page?
The actor from the mage?
The payment from the wage?
The prison from the cage?
The moment from the age?

What is weak and what is strong?
Are you right or are you wrong?
Could you be the Dark One’s pawn,
Content to merely go along,
And trudge on blindly with the throng,
Do anything to just belong,
and pray this darkness yields to dawn,
Before the fonts of strength are gone?

Or will you race against the storm,
Struggle for the yet unborn,
Heal the wound, extract the thorn,
Subdue your fear of evil’s scorn,
Look with hope upon the morn,
Boldly blow trust’s fearless horn,
Fulfill the noble pledge you’ve sworn,
Be all you can; be bold, be strong,
Be the herald of tomorrow’s song?

GemQuest, Book IV, The Revenge of the Elves

The Armadiel

His body seethes, it does not breathe,
His soul is black and cruel.
He sits upon his throne of tears,
and contemplates his rule.
No living things dare go too near,
Their fear is strong and true,
For he is the bane of life itself,
All fear him but the fool.

The Armadiel has come to dance the dance,
To spread his hands and challenge chance,
To cleave the thread of happenstance,
To cast his net upon the sea,
To gather the souls of the brave and free,
Too blinded by the light to see,
Salvation’s secret silver key.

For those of you who think you know
What evil is, where hatred grows,
Where pain begins, when pity dies,
The transgression that you recognize,
The broken vow, a trust decried,
The anguish of loss, your love defied,
What suffering means when hope has died,
The difference between truth and lie,
Beware the beast!
He comes for you,
And all of those whose aim is true,
Your world to sunder,
Your heart to still,
To gather the cloth in his hideous hands,
To rend the weave ’till nothing stands,
And all that is alive, to kill….
And all that is alive to kill!

GemQuest, Book III, The Shards

The Demon’s Hound

So ends the path that honor paved
upon this somber ground.
To be traveled once and ne’er again
by ones not lost but found.
A passage to the darkest place,
the source of fear unbound.
Measure the reason for which you come,
against the risk you take,
Tread lightly upon this accursed ground,
if this be the choice you make.
Who dares trespass into this space,
beware the demon’s hound!
Let it rest, awake it not,
no harm will come to thee,
but when the time to flee is nigh,
be sure to set it free.

GemQuest, Book III, The Shards

Finders Keepers

So much you can, so much you can’t,
Choose those things you must.
How loud you rave, how loud you rant,
We all return to dust.
Do what you may along the way,
Be brave, be strong, be true.
‘Tis not enough, idly by to sit
When destiny beckons you.
Seek it now, the blighted map,
Pluck it from their hands,
Lest it fall forever lost
Upon the daemon’s chest to land.
The sisters of the sacred place
know not what they do,
Forgive them the words their actions speak,
They are noble, through and through.
Lost in a moment of what he needs;
“The well at the end go seek!”,
Not all can be arranged just so,
The Drue find, the Drue keep.

GemQuest, Book III, The Shards