THE BYGONE EXEMPLAR
PART I
Blood comes gushing down the stream
And soon a body follows,
It is like but ─ a dream
When the corpse, the river swallows ─
The castle’s besieged!
Archers man the walls,
Commoners righteously the defenses seize,
As the melancholy of death does call.
Octahedral spires, glistening domes,
Their resplendence is now paltry;
The battle should end with a greater moan
For these to re-established their glory.
The mammoth foe and its Egyptian jewels
Pass their time progressively.
The lesser populace in the fortress dwells,
While the morale’s increasing degeneratively.
Each arrow, each spear, each cannon-ball
Does to the battle-cry add,
Yet, what’s been seen is not all
For the enemy brings up its rams
Across the mobile bridges,
And the trench of water below,
Vice blood, the moat smudges
As the foes in grief bellow.
One archer amidst all the others,
A diamond in a mine;
To keep his honour avoiding ‘smother’
Preserves that which is divine.
Thrice was he shot in the right arm,
And once in the right leg too.
He will not stop until the enemies disarm
And then surrender too.
Be sure to read Part II and please do comment. Any ideas for improvisation are whole-heartedly accepted.