Excalibur

Excalibur.
I wake up, startled,
the grabbing night
close behind,
at bay.

Was it something you said?
Dawn sifts slowly
through pale, inbred trees
golden orbs light the dark, grabbing path
...And yet, I know you.
seeds of red and windblown green promises,
all scattered and broken,
to an unfamiliar wind.

Will we vanish from mankind?

The close, pressing dark
is kept at bay,
but I can see it, defined,
waiting, an undertone as the
colorless waters flash
in understanding
and swallow you away.

You killed, you fed its gleaming blade,
and with a sigh, released yourself
to the budding wind.
Only a hollow, a man, a name remains;
It is as we feared.

And so ends the story of--
the runes are gone, your memory fades,
though you are long dead.
All that was once
a shining king
is gone, in the breath of a lifespan,
a glimpse of breathless green.

Once, upon the red moon dust,
ancient, packed, and still,
a lonely raven cawed its life away
to any ear that would listen.
The seasons changed, the days grew long,
shadows turned upon the world's axis.
The sun hid its face for a while,
people drifted in and out and faded,
until the footprints, the whispers
erased the green ancient days,
And broke the last of the silences,

in primeval trees that ringed
a shaft of light and
a dent of blood-red decay.
Gone forever was the still
chamber in our hearts,
Where marked deeply
with closed eyes,
a single carved scrawl
of ancient grace
endures ever the harsh
mountains of time,
and forgotten,
almost reads "Arturius".