The Won't

Northward ride a thousand kings

upon a thousand horse.

As one, eyes never wandering,

They ride the chosen course.

A thousand kings on storming steads,

The thousand tracks their beasts do leave,

How treacherous the path they weave.

They reach their mark and one by one,

They fight, until each king is done.

A thousand swords, a thousand screams,

The blood-drenched horror of the scene.

A thousand wars, a thousand lives,

and still the enemy survives.

While in the castles; there to keep,

A thousand waiting widows weep.

Beside them children gently sleep.

Days grow longer, none return.

A thousand empty coffins burn

Inside them empty heroes lie. 

Brave young men who bravely die.

Then in young hearts an old pride stirs;

"Forge the helmets, fetch the spurs!

Now to the gates, we'll kill that beast,

Or die a hero's death at least."

Northward ride a thousand kings,

They ride to meet their fate.

Knowing what this journey brings,

A thousand widows wait.

Reviews

[Frank Purcell]

Thoroughly enjoying your poems, for some reason the rhyming scheme gives, in my opinion, such deep quality to the poem. For instance during a war movie, or "sword-and-shield" battle in a movie, when the voices and sound effects are obscured and a dramatic song plays in the background while the movie itself is slowed and a few specific moments are drawn out for effect. The rhyme scheme of this poem gives it the same effect.

[K.C. Zbryk]

Vivid beyond description! this captures the image of these kings and their conquest perfectly, and with such detail, that its like a film playing in the readers head. Very well written

[asdarkeyesclose]

So much imagination in the concept of the 'thousand kings'. I liked the way this took me to the very heat of battle, where mighty warriors fight to the death. Stunning fantasy and the rhyme was subtle and refined.