Vanity

"Cattle and fat sheep can all be had for the raiding,

tripods all for the trading, and tawny-headed stallions.

But  a man's life breath cannot come back again...."

Lend me your mind's eye,

Open the gate of your soul's ear and listen

to the song of my sick heart.

It is a song for us who squandered our breath

And drunk our lives in golden cups of wine.

It is time's call, inviting us to our final place of rest.

Us who sought warmth in glittering breasts

And comfort in blazing thighs.

It is a tale of the countless sins committed

 By our bloody hands that often held our eyes.

It is now a small world

For us who viewed life through a deceptive magnifying glass,

Us who traded  brotherhood for worldly beauties

And rejected humanity, fearing old age and obscurity.

Darkness was our Purity,

And evil, our  holy communion!

The stone of the ten commandments we left not unturned!

We defiled gods, humans, angels  and demons.

Listen to the song of my sick heart,

This stranger to morality....

But judge me not, for judgement too is vanity.

Where is the glory that we killed for?

Of what worth is pride!

What gained we by murdering Christ?

What happens of us in the world beyond the reach of our eyes?

Will silver, gold, loot and plunder 

Bribe death from stopping by for us?

Will our riches  shut the gapping mouth of time!

We built castles all-round the world

But mighty death will not give a damn....

Of what value are  legacies

To  restless men baking in the seventeenth parish of hell?

To gain a world and lose a soul!

......what a bargain!..... the choices we made!...

Wandering in the dark,

Searching for nothing but our glorious fall!