A naked tree bends in the breeze
A lonely leaf falls to the ground
It shudders in the winter wind
The December roar is the only sound

The bitter cold is unrelenting
A cloudy sky looms overhead
The dirt is frozen, hard and stiff
What was once alive has now been dead

The darkness settles like a knife
It tears the day apart
The streets are empty this time of night
The fields are barren like my heart

by day,
your body a silhouette
dancing along the walls.
it reminds you of existence
but it is only to be
vanquished into the darkness
threatened by the starlight.

I came to touch my world,
the things I used to feel,
but no intimacy's found,
nothing today feels real.

Not the aroma of mom's cookies,
nor the freshness of the dew
came this morning to me.
Nothing this day smells true.

My eye, once caught the colors
of the rainbow painting the sea,
see none today to wash
my flowers, the grass and the tree.

I'd hear the whisper of the land
the happy chirps of the bird.
I heard the unspoken words,
but all those sounds today fade.

THE SHIELD

The moon was but a clouded gleam,
Its fitful light both cold and dreary,
We heard a hunting sasquatch scream
But could not run, so drained and weary.

Our group, the last of man's resistance,
Were no more than a hundred strong.
The Dark One challenged our existence,
His Orcs and wolves came chasing on.

Each bloody battle fought for homeland
Left fields of dead at such a cost
Kings and Nobles slain, we nomads
Running northwards, broken, lost.