Andy Szikla. Dark Valley

Dark Valley

In the far high country, shrouded by clouds
They could not pursue him, across frozen ground
He was damp just from breathing, and it cracked his dry skin
He found a Dark Valley, and alone he went in

There the stars dripped like candles, each one for a sin
That waxed over bones, of the unforgiven
He walked down among them, to where they covered the land
Until all the Dark Valley, formed a shimmering strand

When he first stepped upon them, their bones cracked in the mud
And the black edges cut him, and they glistened with blood
Then a voice in his shadow, spoke plainly to him
“You have dreamed of this Valley, and the Heroes within

You have come from the living, just to honour our names
How we Fathers of Glory, all the World we did change
All we Brothers of Winter, all we Kings of the Plain
You have come to this Valley, and put blood in our veins”
***
Well he stopped and he answered, “I have not heard your names
And I dreamed not a dream, I would stand in this place
I must follow my fortunes, or forever stay lost
And the bones in this valley, make the road I must cross”

Then the whole Valley groaned, and the ground breathed a mist
And he shuffled and shifted, till the voice spoke again
“We have sacrificed all, we have campaigned and died!
For the rule of this Valley, and the forces inside

We fought preachers of fiction, who have pinched off the light
To make darkness in men, so their selves would shine bright
Over all the dominions, who pay tribute to them
We alone in this valley, we have bloodied those men

All the stars in devotion, now have stopped in the sky
Over ground we have taken, where we look on our prize
Through these eyes black and hollow, on this night with no end
Our reward is this Valley, where you walk with contempt

So lay down and take pity, at the life that you waste
Now your meaningless journey, I will end in this place
You have run from the misery, and the meanness of men
Now you see the Dark Valley, is a Temple to them”
***
Then the sky became ashen, and pale faces appeared
But he still cast a shadow, on the one who lay near
“You say doom is upon me, and yet here I remain
To still walk the Dark Valley, through the wreck of your fame

Now the fruit of your virtue, is the dust in your mouth
And you must now accept me, put your vainglory down
When the Breath of your Mercy, on the gentle wind dies
I’ll be gone from this Valley, because I am Alive !

But I’ll leave you with a story, told with beautiful words
About a good man unloved, and by evil men cursed
On a search for a country, where his heart can find peace
Away from the Dark Valley, where the Dead judge his deeds”
***
And with that he pushed forward, over men in their line
And the black edges cut him, and took blood from his side
And the Crack of their Bones, like some distant gunfire
Echoed through the Dark Valley, somewhere in the Dark Night

1.Blood Brothers 2.In Her Fire 3.Bastard Child 4.Dark Valley 5.Take Me Up 6.Into The Light 7.Tomorrow Heaven 8.The Refugee 9.Goodbye Douglas Mawson