Armiger

So, what price a life?

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coming of age, they brought me up
in the darkest, to a bloody altar,
made myself a sacrifice unknown;
to a fault my loyalty shone
like the inside-polished scabbard of my blade.

into the world, a star from heaven
was my coming; my proud cohort
gave way in time to prouder legion.
and steel made splendour as of gold
each battlefield I turned my art upon.

learnt to bear arms, not give them away
under their own weight, in their own time;
each black leaf uncurled, a winter wound,
like silver ending the years
of a body’s celebration.

learnt to hold suffering in a fond
embrace, in one hand, sometimes in two;
i laughed sometimes at the day’s horror,
at the sounds of children in
saddened fire-rubbled homes.

in the world, I was a Hunter’s star.
but trees taught me a different lesson:
taught me to wait the years without
destruction or despair.
this was many summers gone.

older now, my legions dust on dust,
i keep my blade as spotless as before;
the work brings memory to mind
of how much the cleaning of a sword
may cost in trees cut down and burnt.