Good legions
And most noble comrades -
On our most recent
(And most successful)
Military campaign
Had we not promised loyalty
To the gushered princes
And
The metal kings?
Why then,
Do we continue to persue
Our present
Degrading paths?
For what gain?

Who among us
Does not realize
The inevitable fate
Of our gleaming
Darlage bridge?
It's supports
Even now grow taut -
And
In some hurried moment
Shall surely snap,
Disappearing into
The sharp darkness.
Where then shall we be?
I ask those empty-skulled
Patriots
And disciples of Polonius -
Where then shall we be?

Can we not live
Without
The Mermaid's songs?
Enclosed
In our cherrywood surroundings.
Let us re-examine
Those
Curious scrolls
Discovered in the harsh hills
Of our enemy.
Can you not see,
That submitting
To the way of the sea
Is not
Our
Only salvation!

Let us walk
In a (deceptively) restrained fashion -
Each and every able-bodied warrior,
Throughout the territory
Of Nitos.
Let us once again urge
Those hideous hill-people
To lay down
Their
Jewelled- handled daggers.
In this manner
And
Only in this manner
May we attain
The Perpetual Peace -
Promised by
The Holy Ancients!

These then
Are my beliefs
And
Stoic wishes.
What say you
Good legions -
To this aging warrior
Standing before you?

01/15/2006

Author's Note: More 1966.

Posted on 01/15/2006
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