Ruins

Once, a keep upon a hill, sat full and somber:
truth and light.

Vigilance, propriety, prosperity, and justice
not ruled, but guided and inspired.

Light gives way to dark, as dark gives way to light,
and as nothing ever is eternal
so did the castle fall.

No engine built could chip the walls
of sweat and dirt and stone.
No arrow piercing, sword of steel found chance within the halls.

Trickery, deception, lies, and passion wrong
did fell it.

With nothing light but dark,
shadows forebode the warning
of a presence not without, but within.

And so did the fortress fall to ruin
lost its light
and fell into dispair.

And a moral, nay except to say,
should you see a changling within your keep
do not stand back, destroy
beware.

Brian Van Pelt, 10/99
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