The Waters of Death

Ice on summer seas a doubtful throne <br/> Gone is the man who pulled sword from stone <br/> Now I know not what I am – nothing but a voice <br/> Calling through death-white mist <br/> <br/> Crown wrought from the dying light of stars <br/> Topples from my brow <br/> Days of old and days to be fade from sight <br/> Hollow are the helmets of the slain <br/> Deep beneath the earth <br/> Mighty bones of ancient men turn to dust <br/> <br/> Rains fall on the ruins of a realm <br/> Unrecalled in song <br/> Waters fey reclaimed the sword of the king <br/> Fled now is the music from the halls <br/> Dry the drinking horn <br/> Choirs robed in holy light sing for me <br/> <br/> Now I know not what I am <br/> Am I but king of the dead? <br/> <br/> And I find nothing is left <br/> Naught but this blade, dormant in grave-cold hands <br/> Where are those I used to love? <br/> Under the ground, swords rusted away <br/> <br/> Will this slumber break, and will I rise? <br/> Banish the frost that blinds weary eyes <br/> Then the host shall ride again <br/> Welcome as the Sun breaking on winter morn

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026

Sagas unsung for the slain <br/> Eulogies written in water <br/> Lost to memory any name would fade away <br/> Like a dying candle flame <br/> <br/> Darken not our doors, O wanderer <br/> You know this doom is yours <br/> Set a course for other shores, O seafarer <br/> And may our bitter hatred fill your sails <br/> <br/> Adrift to horizons unknown <br/> Fated to wither in exile <br/> Far away from homely halls and left behind <br/> Is the solace of the past <br/> <br/> Farther across the wine-dark sea <br/> With not a star to guide the way <br/> Icy the winds alluring me <br/> To fall to Lethe's endless sleep <br/> <br/> Darken not our doors, O wanderer <br/> You know this doom is yours <br/> Set a course for other shores, O seafarer <br/> And may our bitter hatred fill your sails <br/> <br/> Ocean winds are singing an elegy morose <br/> Laden with the bittersweet scent of smoke <br/> Know that youth is spent, and greyer days await <br/> Harken to the sullen sound of rain weeping heavy tears

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026

I drank of your font, sweet oil of vitriol <br/> Danced on light feet in your sunshine <br/> Intoxicated by your fragrance <br/> Oh life! I exalted in your light <br/> <br/> But now your golden rays reach me not <br/> In lustreless forests I falter <br/> Bleeding and weary with every step I take <br/> Can you hear the clatter of the gyves? <br/> <br/> Wounds soaked in bitterness strike through upon the coverlet <br/> No salve to ease the sting where the rapier rushed in <br/> <br/> Idle hands reach for the rope’s caress <br/> Restless eyes look to the bough <br/> <br/> Back broken, legs fettered, arms open wide <br/> From tenebrosity I limp towards the light <br/> Will the candle burn for me, will the sun still rise? <br/> Can the hand of grace still lift the darkness from these eyes? <br/> <br/> ‘Behold thineself,’ whispered the mage <br/> As I knelt by the water’s edge <br/> ‘Whose ghostly visage is illuminated here? <br/> Whose are these cold and distant eyes?’ <br/> <br/> Hemp and holly bind the limbs <br/> And hessian lets through a crimson stain upon the floor <br/> Where footsteps fall no more <br/> <br/> Who will listen for my penance to be read? <br/> Who will weep for me when the last drop is shed? <br/> <br/> Back broken, legs fettered, arms open wide <br/> From tenebrosity I limp towards the light <br/> Will the candle burn for me, will the sun still rise? <br/> Can the hand of grace still lift the darkness from these eyes? <br/> <br/> Then in the black wold, a candle burns low <br/> From uncertainty I crawl towards your glow <br/> Where pain is not my mistress, nor agony my throne <br/> Shall I see your face again, or walk the dark alone?

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026

On fleetest wings flies the mortal soul <br/> From winter’s chill into homely halls <br/> Great is the storm, fragile is the candle <br/> The night is falling - few are they who truly see the dawn <br/> <br/> Life's flame burns low <br/> Smoke drapes the embers <br/> Where the Lethe flows <br/> No man remembers <br/> <br/> In the embrace of a shroud of weeds <br/> Headstones effaced by the centuries <br/> Sad epitaphs, how they whisper through the ivy <br/> The night is falling – restless is the sand within the glass <br/> <br/> Bones turn to dust <br/> In soil once sanctified <br/> Ironwork to rust <br/> Bright faces petrified <br/> <br/> Hope's flame burns low <br/> Smoke drapes the embers <br/> Where the Lethe flows <br/> No powers venture <br/> <br/> As the twilight yields to darkness <br/> As mountains turn to sand <br/> Like the mindless march of entropy <br/> The river finds the sea <br/> <br/> O father Aion cradle me <br/> In thy beneficent arms <br/> Hark not to Chronos calling thee <br/> With voice venefic and fell <br/> There is a distant truth to seek <br/> Beyond the waters of death

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026

As the sun falls from the sky <br/> Waning crescent rises high <br/> Through bleary and forsaken eyes <br/> To Hecate’s torch I gaze <br/> <br/> Standing tall upon the prow <br/> Western shores I leave you now <br/> To wear the wreath upon my brow <br/> Of fragrant asphodel <br/> <br/> Four times born of suffering <br/> I have four times come forth to die <br/> And now the Lethe’s waters cry <br/> To me to drink my fill <br/> <br/> Hark, I hear your birdsong! O Elysium sweet field <br/> How I long to bathe in your crystal waters <br/> Tread your white sands, walk the golden path <br/> Through Elysian meadows – into the evermore

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026

Like hemlock wilfully drunk to the drains <br/> A draught to dull the limbs and still the anguished heart <br/> Flames consume the curse, and cleansing currents rush <br/> And still I am unquenched, unforged <br/> <br/> Tongues of fire take me, your hunger will I sate <br/> Carry off in choking plumes these memories unmade <br/> This pyre blazing becomes a beacon for the lost <br/> They who wander in the dark whose names will be forgot <br/> <br/> Sweet maiden speak your vengeance <br/> And ride your steed into the flames <br/> See the heavens tumble, hear the raven cry <br/> Borne on swift wings of hatred <br/> Their doom the gods will find in thee <br/> They who reigned as tyrants will meet a mortal end <br/> <br/> The well is poisoned, overflowing, and deeply shall I drink again <br/> To wander dark delirious woods in nighted lands forlorn <br/> <br/> Like venom’s wicked taint drawn from a wound <br/> To drown in slumber endless and wake on shores unknown <br/> Flames consume the curse, and cleansing currents rush <br/> And still I am unquenched, unforged <br/> <br/> Tongues of fire take me, your hunger will I sate <br/> Carry off in choking plumes these memories unmade <br/> This pyre blazing becomes a beacon for the lost <br/> They who wander in the dark whose names will be forgot <br/> The shadows lengthen, engulfing hills in graven shade <br/> Ashes scattered to the wind, of progeny unnamed <br/> The veil is lifted, the pyre doused with flowing tears <br/> Build a cairn upon my bones for every eye to see

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 06, 2026