you braved the elements

fought mythical beasts

confronted strange gods

rescued princesses from prisons of penury

defended chivalry in the name of some forgotten One


and this is all you get?

a ruined body and yapping little dogs?

the pathetic screws of more pathetic bureaucrats?

shrews and harpies where goddesses once posed?

all that honor wasted on an empty sky?


poor poor little warrior

your mythology is spread across the ceiling

a panorama of some absurd paradise

only a child could endorse...


I won't ask you what you'll do now

it'll take your whole life to fix this


and even then you'll catch an occasional glimpse

of the fleece hanging in its tree

and wonder if it is golden and forlorn


or just the rotting carcass of every dream

you could not live up to...


every quest reduced to a mere ramble...




Content (c) 2008-2012 Philip Milito.