Terza Rima: The Conqueror’s Choice

The Conqueror’s Choice

When men decide to take up arms
Against their neighbors and to fight
O’er castles strong and verdant farms
Declaring that they have the right
To call this place or that their own
By virtue of their sword hand’s might
A seed beneath that land is sown
Plucked from the warrior’s wrathful soul
And needing blood to be full grown.
The sins of war demand their toll
And conquerors must in time decide
To break their foes or leave them whole.
A steely voice speaks from one side
With logic in its cruel design
To never stop till all have died
And raze each house to leave no sign
That any other ever dwelled
Within the fresh-inked border line.
But in the other hand is held
The choice to let the vanquished live
And from their homeland be expelled.
The soft heart is inclined to give
Safe passage to those it has banned
But exiles are slow to forgive
The ones who drove them from their land
And vengeance drives them to return
With hardened heart and sword in hand
To topple tow’rs and watch them burn
Until the land is cleared again
So they may rebuild in their turn.
But two results can follow when
The die is cast and plans are made
To go to war with other men:
The blackened soul and bloody blade
Or mercy’s grace with war repaid.

This is a poem in terza rima written late at night on May 18, 2010.

Updated: February 27, 2013 — 9:50 am