6 December 2012
This poem was inspired by...something I read somewhere. I'm not really sure who wrote it or where I heard it, but it alluded to the belief that Death was infatuated with Life. I loved the idea, so I wrote this poem.
Back in the days when the world was new When the grass was more green and the sky more blue When the creatures were plenty and mankind few And there was love
There were two spirits who wandered the Earth They didn't know Time, for they didn't know birth Together they roamed and all shared in their mirth And there was love
Their great journey took them to far, foreign lands Through forests and rivers and deserts of sand Though wherever they went, they went hand-in-hand And there was love
But Time knew them, though they knew Time not And mankind grew and soon formed a plot To conquer the world, for the world was their lot And there was sown the seeds of decay . . . To defeat mankind and keep them contained The two wanderers, who have not yet been named Ceased from their travels to become restrained And there was love
No longer true spirits, their souls now laid bare The first became Life and she took to the air The second was Death, and the Earth was his lair And there was love
Now Death went out and he struck at mankind He felt no remorse, for his rage made him blind Man wanted to kill, so he killed them in kind And there was love
But Life felt man's sorrow and she felt all his grief So she went to the dying and she gave them relief But she hid this from Death, lest he think her a thief And there was sown the seeds of strife . . . Death went on killing, and Life did her part She put back together what he tore apart When he stopped, she restarted each small child's heart And there was love
Time kept on turning and Death quickly saw No matter how many he threw in The Maw Man kept on fighting, for Death had a flaw And there was love
For though Life was long, Death was much longer Yet, though Death was strong, Life was much stronger And Death's love for Life meant he never could wrong her And there was love
So, between Life and Death a bargain was made Life would keep working to nurture and save While Death would be patient and wait for the grave And there were sown the seeds of The End . . . Mankind kept on growing and dealing with strife They learned to fear Death and learned to love Life Though some still served Death with the sword and the knife And there was love
But Time made Death lean while Life grew quite thick As mankind perfected their skills and their tricks They hooked up to tubes all the old and the sick And there was love
Thus, Death was forced to wait and to bide Humans Lived more and put Death to the side But still, he saw Life and to her he still cried "And there IS love!"
But Life saw him not, and his cries went unheard She soon grew unhealthy, uncaring, absurd And Life lost it's meaning when Death wasn't a word And the Harvest of Souls began.
The Harvest of Souls • Opuss № I