Value of Self

A cold I had never known reached inside me,
Gripped my very soul and chilled me.
It was not the weather alone,
On the day they took you away.

Like a thousand piercing needles came
The thoughts of living without you,
A pain above the cold that swirled about me,
On the day they took you away.

My only memory, a ring I had given,
Buried in the earth from whence it came,
Trampled by the feet of the soldiers
That took you away.

A spark of anger started a fire of emotion,
gave new light to the world, through new eyes,
Revealed everything once concealed.
On the day they took you away.

A fire warms the body, warms the soul,
Induces thought
And makes one whole,
On those days when all is taken away.

These thoughts and fears stirred within me,
Kept me awake until the orb of night had long passed,
And made me feel helpless against the storm,
On the day they took you away.

I swore revenge, fed the hatred until it
Took over, became my being,
And made me strong.
For the day when I would take you back.

Day and night I trained upon the hill
Where we had met years before.
A hope growing so thin I found myself crying in frustration,
For the struggle of taking back what is lost.

Upon the grass, sweat rolling down my forehead like
Small rivers of a majestic mountain range,
I fingered your ring and reflected on the day
When they took you from me.

I trained my arts to take you back,
To take myself back,
From the hatred that had consumed me
After they had taken you away.

The day had come.
I was ready, I thought, and so began
My journey of hope, of love.
Accompanied by the strength to make them pay.

On the road, one of my choosing,
faint music from within sounded.
A soft gentle voice sang a tune of sorrow,
the words ringing loud in my head.

"When it seems that all is lost
Take not the path of revenge.
But find yourself on open roads
And look upon the light within.
It shines much brighter than the path
That you have chosen to follow.
So hear my voice, and turn away.
And you will save yourself from death."

The song ended, it’s message clear.
I marched on, without thought.

I forced my way into the keep,
Killed many, justifiably I told myself
Over and again, my guilt being
The price they made me pay in return.

When I found your body on the sacrificial alter,
I found no comfort or closure,
Only the need for revenge,
And the desire to take back my soul.

The voice of the song,
The edict of my love already past,
Could not persuade me.
Lost was more than was taken.

As I am, do not cross me.
What I have become, a man without an honest goal,
Is like danger itself, for danger has naught to lose,
When all is taken away.

Sometimes it is not enough for a man to mourn,
But to satisfy his emptiness with hope,
False hope, for times when
Confidence leaves the land, like the sun, inevitably.

To turn away is death of spirit,
To stand and fight, a sense of duty.
To hunt down evil, honor and glory,
But is there any honor in a purpose lost?

When all is lost, keep the one thing you can.

Yourself.