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

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

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

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