last rites

Now I am revisiting old poems that need work and or a decent burial:

Last Rites

Last rites in the darkening sky

        Coming forth from the dragon’s cry

        Singing of his dying race

Echoes out into the night and space.

        Wings of red fury

        Rising to the skies

        Thunder sounding

        As the dragon flies.

Gone is the old age

Bring in the new

The old code is past

And the heroes grow few.

The new order is here

Men of steel now ride

In waves of dread and fear

See the destructive tide

Ancient origins in the birthing pool

        No more hatchlings, no more fuel

        We are born from the immortal dreams

        To the days of the haunted screams

        Wings of sleek silver

        Soaring above the sea of cloud

        Slipstream wind ripping

        Secret shadow above the shroud

The millennium has come to the evident end

        Histories becomes epic, myth and pretend

        Eternal lives have been cut short

By the Knights questing for renown and sport.

        A time of delay and of shock

        Desolation, the decapitation of the slain

        As the culling of a flock

        Dragons are dying in this deadly reign.

The old dominion on our hallowed ground

        Abandoned, we are hidden, not to be found.

        We are coming close to being on the brink

Of extinction, the bitter betrayal, the poisoned drink.

        Wings of red steel

        Fall like lightning, an arrow

        No mercy, I will not feel

        Rend and rip no sorrow.

II.

Our kind has come to this unfortunate fate

        Our defense comes too slow, too late

        Our young are orphaned in birth

Our mates are slain, their blood stains the earth.

        Anger has robbed us of our deep wisdom

        Hatred and anger is now all we can sum

        Where is our might against our common foe?

        All we have left is vengeance and woe.

Death and ruin, I stand against the dying sun

        War torn, scattered the man army on the run

        Many are dead, dying in the ruddy dirt

What cost victory? Was it worth all this death and hurt?

This passion leaves me, I find myself alone

What of my sins, how can I atone?

My kind is lost, I am the last

A monster of legend, from the past.

III.

Lost to life, my hopes, dreams, and visions fail

        All that is left will be found in fairy tales.

        I wander this new world in silence and grief.

Hated by some, feared by all, trusted by none, a thief.

        I have stolen the man from his kin

        I have killed the son, an unforgivable sin.

        I have taken the husband from the wife

        I am the pariah, the enemy of life.

        Wings in grey mists

        Hiding from the days light.

        Hunted, marked on the lists

        The prize for the chivalrous knight.

Old magic found deep in forgotten forests green

        She finds me hidden, unfound and unseen.

        She reaches out without fear, without hate

Binding us together, damning us in the game of fate.

        Beauty and the beast, known to few

        Peace now comes, she is true

        Her innocence heals me

        She sets my heart free.

The old storms only visit on the silent nights

        I sleep content in her company and light.

        She is now my hope, my passion and my life

Wed by nature, unified, the end of the past strife.

        Sunlit fields waving in the breeze

        Far away from any civilized place

        Wiling away the days with ease

        Happiness is ours, a moment of grace.

        A season to stay by my side

        To swim together in the ocean tide

        To share my life, to take my part

        Until she took an arrow aimed for my heart.

Sorrowful dirges I sing in the quiet morn

        I clasp her body to me, wishing I had never been born

        She was my soul and it has died within me

        Rage is revived and struggles to be free.

        Wings of Black Death

        Shadow the scorched land

        Scarred by the dragon’s breath

        Struck down where they stand.

I am the destructive juggernaut

Speeding like a plunging bird of prey

A sword forged in pain, terribly wrought.

Swift as lightning, I enter the fray.

There in the path of destruction, a child in my way

        Bravely trembling, stopping my wrath.

        Confronts me with her memory, I betray

        Her love, her trust, her smile, her laugh.

Turn now from this madness

My violence comes to an end

Now I see only her sadness

As this girl cradles her dead friend.

Last rites in the darkening sky

        Coming forth from the dragon’s cry

        Singing of his long dead race

        Calling out for her lost embrace

Wings of gold wonder

Rising above the desolation

I sing again as I wander

Echoing over the shattered nation.

She clutches at the hands of her fallen friend

Knowing that she came this close to the legend

She looks back up into the starry night

In wonder at the dragon’s flight.

Finis.