They Came
Eric Bonholtzer
They came with swords, burning dark night in their glare
Eager to test their mettle against supple flesh
That was as of yet unmarred.
Was it because of the way they walked the invaders hated them so much?
Was it because of the way they tilled, toiled, and lived so free?
Or was it just the inevitable progression, the wheel that often goes a tilt.
They came, stubble sparse on untried cheeks,
Whether worn with armor or without, they fought
The heady call of annihilation pungent in the air.
Death was all that mattered, as long as it was not their own,
As they came, some fell, to arrows, to pitfalls, to hate, to themselves
Some seeking vengeance, others still glory,
the two interchangeable
Shifting
As all things do,
With enough time.