Dark Ages
Overtones soft underbellies
Chime chimeras from tall castles
Gargoyles festering on perches
Gothic spikes with threatening glances
Herald secrets of dark ages
Bloody paper cuts from pages
Turned by bony fingers twisting
Ever piercing fragile vellum
Fusing lampblack’s painful scribbles
Pen point polished sharp as judgment
Meted out neath spears and banners
To a crowd of unkempt members
Many hordes of tribes in legions
Ever cheering ever fearing
Whether whip and plague of black
Or the yeoman’s sudden lack
Dearth of field and coin of gold
It’s no wonder men grow old
Hallowed gray as does the village
For its Roland now is pillaged
Read your history feel its pages
Let your tears refresh its sages
Like the Danube rinsed of old
Huns and horses strong or bold
Short indeed your page of strife
Cut your bread with shopworn knife
Love your child and love your wife
Crumbling loaf your feast of life.