Shadow Warrior

So you leave me
yet again

Pride
and
a swollen moral code

stronger than your heart
braver than your soul

Leaving me,
the one you love

to battle once again.

I fight
bareheaded and fierce

Emptyhanded
but brave

And fall
to my knees once more

Not defeated,
winded.

Still alive
to fight another day.

I spread my arms to the sky
looking up
and up

To where you are

Way up on high
where the Exalted reign.

The one whose Gods guide them
whose families protect them

And salute you
in love and pain.

I say a prayer
to Gods who would not have me

Taking up my shield
and bearing it home

To a dark land
where there is no laughter

no love
only longing and solitude

Oh yes, regret.

Pangs of sorrow
jab my ribs

As I journey
ever watchful

More evil will always find me
More darkness ever encompass me.

Only a broken disk of metal
and a hope of love

Protect me from oblivion;
the death of that hope

But I fight
in both our names

Hoping in the feast you enjoy above
You spare a thought for me,

Your servant of love

And maybe smile.