renounce

By traitor named traitor, by traitor betrayed
Strides he to an end in fire, seeking pale
Pursued and cursed, cast from cliff on high
Unmastered and broken, he dies to knowledge
But he does not die.

Renounced in blood, he renounces name
Renounced in honor, he renounces colors
Renounced in deed, he renounces law
Renounced in love, he renounces desire
Save his final end.

How in this pain, he still walks?
What drives the dead to live?
Live a life dead and dying
What service does his blood serve
When no bond he calls.

War he knows, so war he seeks
Yet none can maim nor scar
Under endless curse, he lives
The stains bring no peace
But in victory loss.

Solitude he knows, so he seeks the high
Lofty ways, in snow and storm
Death shall claim his corpse
Rescued in sleep, he curses his curse
And life still stings.

City lost, he finds
In high and tempest place
A city of life, he haunts, a ghost
He sees echoes and shadows
of life now past.

Then in skyward halls, a flower
A flower, alight and fresh
Casts light upon his pallor
And the flower loves but does not love
And loves another.

And death he knows again.
But life too.

And in this death, he cries
He remembers, he begins
He falters in his stride
What now do you seek, despised?
Flower or fate?

What now do you seek, despised?
But life too.

And his scars he recants
And his light he rekindles
And his honor he recites
And his love he loves
In silence.

The city of sky sees not his change
Sees not his eyes, nor his strong hands
Recast and reborn, they see only ghost
Not the inhale, nor the exhale
He begins.


He takes color, crimson lifeblood
It is now his name, anew
It covers and reveals his new life
Born of gratitude, he strides
In quiet day.


And he gifts them all he has
He gifts them war's knowledge, in peace
In guard he stalks, he listens, he keeps
And dawn's flower, he leaves
Far far from him.