Cold

Snow fell from sultry skies,

And tears bled from amorous eyes.

Winter came, and winter fell;

All that was left, a frigid shell.

We broke the night, I and you,

Amongst flowers, while the dew

Beaded on the petals of the rose

As the morning came, and passion froze.

Time – the only constant in the world—

Waited as horns blew, banners unfurled

To herald the start, and welcome the men

Assembled as one to watch the end.

For this is a world of brutal truths,

Wherein men sacrifice their youths

For duty, love, desire and all,

While existing unaware of heaven’s fall.

In a shining moment, the finale came,

Men excited, men afraid… men all the same,

Spoke in trembling, hushed tones,

And felt the winter in their bones.

And so he spoke, that temporal man,

Who drew his breath, and thus began:

“Time will come, and time will go,

Along forever’s river we will row.

We will live, and we will die,

One in the same, you all and I…

The cycle repeating, the spiteful past

Coming to haunt and hunt to the last.

For it is but the end we fear,

Disregarding the distance –far or near—

But you have lived in vain, king or peasant,

To crown future or past, instead of holding the present.”

And so we danced, you and I,

With not an eye turned towards the sky.

We reveled and regaled, on wintered ground,

As time fled us, and all around

There was but dust, and echoes of song,

For we knew naught, but this all along:

You may kill or protect, take or give,

But time is nothing if you truly live.