WAR
I am the only one alone.
The others in my kingdom
Have heraldry and always
Three comrades at their side.
Although the Court Jesters
Have only each other.
But I alone am alone, always alone,
In a dungeon, in the dark,
The edges of reality
Folded in on me
While the others fight for glory
And immortality,
Waging a raging war.
Loyalties shifting,
Fortunes falling or lifting
At the hands of the War Lords,
Anne and Edward and Leon.
Why am I here?
The question haunts me.
Why this pain?
If I must suffer, why not let me die with honor?
The rules are written on my face,
Provisions to settle any score
For the War Lords waging of our eternal war.
But no one ever looks at me.
Every day I pray
That the War Lords
Don’t toss me away.
And then it comes, the glorious day of days
When the War Lords anoint me
Emperor Invincible
In their latest war.
No one can subdue me.
I am Soldier Supreme,
A thing I had not dared to even dream.
My fifty-four fellow combatants
Know not what to make of my shocking rise to power.
Some are angry I don’t know my place.
Some are jealous for taking their place.
Some are curious.
Some, without knowing why, are furious.
Some, especially the Court Jesters,
Mock and mock and mock me.
But their words are dust!
I am at one with the War Lords.
I am infinitely strong.
The land is laid to waste,
The enemies scattered and chased.
Battles unfurl fast and furious.
Kings and queens fall into moats of blood.
This theater I command with an iron hand.
The Anointed Ones, those fickle four who dethrone kings,
Bow before me, trembling in fear.
Bit by bit Anne amasses power,
But Edward is ruthless and waits for his hour,
And Leon stands strong as a castle tower.
The war grinds on and we are exhausted,
Some frayed at the edges, some bent, some broken.
The tides of fortune shift this way and that,
A deafening roar
Of clashing swords and hand-to-hand war.
I was a fool to despise my solitude!
Now I long for my comfortable cave,
And even for the jests of the jokers,
Who now, in this endless war,
Smile no more.
And then it happens, as I wait in formation
Under Anne’s masterly and patient direction.
With our foes cut down to their final four men,
Three valiant Jacks meet on the blood-soaked field!
Which army will prevail and which two will yield?
Raise crossbows and swords, my most worthy gallants!
Three mighty empires hang in the balance!
Each War Lord sends in two soldiers, face down,
Praying for their lives, not uttering a sound.
Then Leon sends in his last man – A Seven, and sighs.
Then Edward sends in his last man – A King, with delight in his eyes.
Then Anne sends in – Yes, Me! Me! Me!
Emperor Invincible, Master of the Rules!
Shout it from the turrets, shout it from the towers!
I have obliterated their armies, victory is ours!
But the boys laugh
As if this war were a mere kerfuffle!
And Edward says to Leon,
“New game, you shuffle.”
(Image- Wikimedia Commons)
