Lord Cromwell BBS

I learned how darkness stretches between dawns Learned how to force breath when hope was gone Buried deep, where memory decays Unblinking eyes burn like day I fed it anger, fed it shame Called it cursed cause of blame It wore the face I could not bear And grew the teeth my snarl wears Dark walker Rise and bring discordance, pain and death But I'm whole in purpose within my breast The beast outlasts, the chains undone That which caused it, left nowhere to run I sow the wreckage in my wake I know the bones of each mistake Not every wound was unto me Some bear the mark of my own teeth I do not hide from what I've done Or blame the dark, what I've become The blood is mine, the blame is too But I am more than dark made true Dark walker Rise I am dangerous, I am death But now whole within my chest The beast endures, the chains undone And those that called it learn to run I went below broken torn A severed soul, riven in scorn One begged for peace, one lived for war Each hunt in darkness to settle score But in those depths, we came to know There was naught to overthrow No weaker half that had to die No other face behind my eyes The chain was forged from fear and pain Each bitter link forged of shame I broke it open, link by link To lay bare the past and shed guilts stink Now let us look upon our face and rightly remember time and place Let us behold what cannot die The we is I, made to survive I do not kneel I do not flee I do not seek your fear of me I came to end the endless chase Turn around And face what you made I am dangerous, I am death I came back whole from my own depths The beast outlasted, the chains undone Now the battle has begun Dark walker No moon commands me Dark walker No claims will bind me Dark walker The past behind me Dark walker The beast is mine I know my strength I know its cost I count the debts I count the lost I own the wounds I own the blame But I will never wear your shame I am dangerous, I am death And I am whole with every breath The beast outlasts The old fear dies The dark walker Has opened his eyes

The trumpets rang thin o'er the pass And halberds tore at winter grass He dropped his rank and threw his shield And spared no thought to hold the field He took the culvert low and blind While his kinsmen held the line behind He crouched below the war-choked lane Where wheel-ruts kept the old brown rain Muck on boots in a filth-stained coat Every step betrayal 'neath the horn's high note Stay to the stones he told the dark While war-drums banged across the yard At the gate's split jaw he crossed o'er road The caravan gone the watchtower smoke Then through the mist and broken spears His path was free his way was clear One breath held fast one hand half-raised He heard in his mind the oath he'd made No courage called him only shame Could drag him back the way he came He spun his heel to look behind His kinsmen broke a shattered line His blood went cold his heart be stilled He knew his men'd find a grave to fill Through grief and pain and mounting shame His curse called down on his own name The sky split wide with a thunderous roar An' back he went not brave or sure With heavy heart he cut his way Through foes back to those he'd betrayed By dawn the field had fallen still The battle won below the hill The few he found left to save Helped him dig the others' graves They called him hero cheered his plan To strike behind and break the van Their plan not his yet who would tell When all were drunk and all was well He tried to confess he had fled the field They laughed and filled his cup with mead If that be true then you're a coward bold We'd gut ya now an' toss what's left out cold So drink we to the victories a'fore Of the coward of the realm hero ever more

Mama kept a velvet trunk Beneath the stairs, behind the wine Full of baubles and half-burnt candles Silver bells and bitter thyme Said she read the roads for strangers A gypsy princess back when wagons followed fares I said, Mama, you were a carny You just learned to sell them scares She would smile and tap the table Like she knew what I would say Laugh all you like, little sparrow, just don't dabble While I'm away Then she left to see Aunt Rosa Three towns over, gone all night And I had Richard coming over So the house had to look right The wine was breathing, supper waiting Windows all a-rattle from scratching rain But the room looked far too ordinary For all my trouble, what a pain Then I found her seance candle Black as coal with crimson thread Madame Ezrabula on the label And beneath it Wake not the dead I laughed and lit it anyway Some enchanted evening Tilt the whole room toward desire Just a little charm for romance A little stolen gypsy fire Some enchanted evening Let the shadows learn to sway What's the worst a candle does When Mama is away First the wine began to tremble Then the spoons all turned around Then the cups inside the cupboard Started crashing to the ground My poor Richard said, Is this normal? I said, Mostly, have some bread Then the mirror cleared its throat And gave a whisper, He'll be dead Curtains blew at shuttered windows Grandma's portrait looked annoyed And a figure in the hallway Kept pulsing in the void Richard cried out Your house is amazing He was absolutely thrilled I said Please, stop encouraging it Some enchanted evening Now the furniture can sing Here comes a knocking from the pantry And there's no one in that wing Some enchanted evening Every shadow has a plan I only want a candle romance Who the hell invited the damned So back to Mama's old trunk While the ceiling softly bled Pulled out charms and letters Far more than I could have read Her black silk-pouch A copper mirror Bleached and bone-handled comb A silver pin Three black feathers And a garden gnome Very useful Then I found her little ledger Bound in cracked and faded hide Not a list of marks and suckers Not a carny cheat inside Names and dates and careful warnings Doors to close and debts to pay Things my mother swore were waiting Things I laughed at just today Until one page Marked with my name There I wrapped her shawl around me Set the cards the way she'd shown Spoke the words I used to mock her In a voice not quite my own Silver bell ringing Candles guttering Three rites spoken Then silence breathing slow Every ghost turned toward the doorway And I told them all then Go By eleven he was leaving Still insisting it was great I had wax across the table Broken glass beside his plate The dead were gone, the cards were stacked A candle, safely capped And all that remained of my grand face plant Was to straighten up this crap So I fetched the broom and muttered Mama never needs to know Then the front door opened softly And I heard her say Hello

Long before the world was new In darkest void from whence was hewn Smiling wrath in frost and flame And no two ages spoke the same She wore the winter like a crown And watched the mountains all kneel down Her laugh like ice, her eyes like fire Pixie play and faerie ire Where walls be windows, dreams be doors The sky rent and sundered evermore Never afore and never again Did heaven close what opened when None escape the memory of her grasp No oath holds through, no iron lasts Deep under root and stone she lay Waiting for the fall of fading day Fire before the rolling dawn From smoke in filth, they marched on War or tempest, the lightning comes Hear the hammers beating of phantom drums Shore up the barricade, pray to save For what soon will meet the grave When night remembers what is lost The living learn the butcher's cost They found his sword beneath the tree But not the hand, nor blood, nor he The forest bent with no earthly sound No living foot had marked the ground He'd gone where washing waves still crash On distant sands no men may pass There in sullen shadow's keep She took his soul through his own sleep She showed him the hall beneath the foam A dead queen's court, the pale drowned throne She touched his brow with frozen flame And his memories became his chain The roads, the wells, the chapel stones The market bells, the children's homes She learned his world through his own eyes And sent him back, raging ice storm inside When the blind moon crossed the day The blackened branches clawed the gray No horn was blown, no warning cry The gates stood open from inside Fire before the rolling dawn From smoke in filth the march went on War or tempest, the lightning comes In brass-thunder walking, with poison tongues Shore up the barricade, hold it brave For what soon will meet the grave For once she knows the shape of your breath She'll call you home through dream and death Her laughter split the frozen mere As spring has never entered here Seven kings in earthen beds Turned in fear amongst the dead Salt and silver, tooth and thread Old wards fail, when the old ones tread None escape, not king nor serf When her cold remembrance cloaks the earth Fire before the rolling dawn From smoke in chaos marching on War or tempest, the lightning came And every house was rife with blame Shore up the barricade, bid to save Still for what now meets the grave For none escape the memory of her grasp Once she has you, she holds you fast Now graves all face the western sea For those she took, and him, and we Washing waves crash on shore's lost sands No longer free our mortal hands Long before the world was new In darkest void her laughter hewn And when she smiled— the world grew still There's no escape from her eternal will