HOME | DD
EsotericaSpiral — Hero
Published: 2005-09-21 02:18:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 35; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
Quest long since finished,Triumph forgot,
The former hero trudges
Knee deep
Through the numbing cold.
Biting wind takes the place
Of enemies’ daggers
Thrusting through gaps in his armor.
Howling voices mock his progress
And faces leer from twisted trees.
Wavering, faltering,
The hero grasps a wind worn branch
Pulling his reluctant feet
A few steps forward.
He wonders if the words
“fleet” and “nimble”
were truly used to describe him
Once.
A battered sword trails
From an engraved hilt
Carving his past in the snow.
A slight change in the bleak backdrop
Draws the hero’s weary eyes.
A wisp of smoke curls
Tracing words of hope
In the blank sky.
Some of the old fire,
Barley a glimmer,
Warms his stone-cold heart.
“They’ll know me there.”
Goal in sight, he presses onward
This quest a faint shadow
Of the challenges of old.
Ignoring wind and whipping branches,
The hero approaches
The smoke
The promise of warmth
Of companionship.
The smoke’s source comes into view,
Hardly an inn
A small house
Shudders and creaks in the wind
Undergoing its own trial of endurance.
He pulls open the door
Breaking the icy bonds
That seek to bar his entry.
A crackling fire,
A cluster of people
Huddled around its warmth.
Chatter stops
Cards flutter to the floor
All eyes on the hero.
He waits for the cheers;
The gasps of recognition.
He prays for something,
Anything,
But the inhabitants return
To their previous activities
Leaving the hero,
Teetering,
In the doorway.
He could stay
And let their cold indifference
Take the place of snow and wind
But to him it makes no difference:
No one needs a hero.
