The Enemies (Poem)

Once upon a time that wasn't so upon,
There were two foolish, angry men
Who hated there wasn't much then
To hate and wish that all was gone.

Human nature led them down
Errant paths that were ridden with
Caustic thorns and toxic myths
And caused them both to drown.

There were two; and one stood tall
With veins of salt and words of ice,
A gifted charm that wore a price
And lost him in the fray's final fall.

The other wore his temper around
His neck in a ring of gracious fire,
And it so came to preside his ire
To turn and return him to the ground.

There has never been such ill will
As between these spiteful foes.
Countless vies history knows,
And that shall lead them to the kill.

Oh!; You have never seen such a sight!
Water and fire strike in ferocious flash!
The world around them flares to ash
And the shadows deplete the light!

Monsters entangle in violent sin,
Crimson and liquid trespass to
Elemental death and earthly coup!
How can this end when it cannot begin?

Rainstorms and firestorms ravish the sky,
And leave in their course a molested world,
Whose fingers gods have left uncurled
And blinded in Their invincible eyes.

To these men, the architects of death;
To these men, they have won.
What is spent; what is done,
Ate the hope of this battle's breath.

Yet the foes, tangled in their vines,
Know not that vice and triumph live
Together and die together; they strive
As enemies should—among the lines.

And vice and triumph show that in their wake
Of ocean and planet survives for naught.
That every war that they have fought
Bleeds into soil; and peace will it make.

And so dawns the defeat of the men,
The souls of ice and fire fade.
Abyss calls; and their spirits bade
To an underworld where life begins again.

May they swim in pools of gore
And burn in flames of guilt!
Amen; now let our prayers be built
On love as the tides lick the shore.


Once upon a time that wasn't so upon,
There were two foolish, angry men—
When aqua and magma, sacred then
Turned the earth

And the seas

Dried and rained

And then lived on.