The Path Ahead

With every shard scattered around
Our feet worn and tired
We walk through this cloud of shame
To leave the former world
Far behind
With mountains ahead
Our journey far from over
We charge ahead
Side by side
Our minds weary
Our souls pounded through
Our hands stained with blood
Guilt and sorrow
We shed a tear for it all to be over
But somewhere in the night
In the darkness and shadows
The stars will flicker bright
To light the path ahead
Leading us to the other side
Through fear
Through anguish
Through hell itself
We will not fade
We will fight
To claim what is rightfully ours
Life itself

The River

I was walking through the forest one day
The sun was shining through the leaves
The water of the river flowed steadily nearby
And the smell of the trees was sweet and thick
As I walked through the forest
I met a gray looking man who stood by the river
His clothes we old
His hands were dirty
His shoes had walked thousands of miles
As I approached him
He offered me a seat overlooking the river
As I looked on I saw another man
This man was different
His clothes were clean
His hands, soft and spotless
And as I looked, this man wore no shoes
I asked my new friend about the Beautiful Man on the other side
He told me a tale of two friends
These men were walking through the forest one day
As they came to the river
The Beautiful Man noticed a shimmer from the other side
As he looked closer, what he saw amazed him
The ground was smoother
The trees flowed more graceful
The fruits were more plentiful
The sun even shone brighter
The man was drawn to it instantly
The Gray Man grew cautious of the other side of the river
The Gray looked and saw past the shimmer
He saw a darkness
He saw nothing was real on the other side
He tried to warn the Beautiful Man who began walking into the river
Walking to the other side
But as the Gray Man begged
The Beautiful Man turned to his friend
And began to ask the Gray Man to join him
But the Gray Man stayed behind
As the days came and gone
Each man on each side of the river
Everyday, though
The two would gather at the river to drink
The Beautiful Man stayed beautiful on the other side
He no longer spoke
He no longer grew tired
He no longer smiled
He no longer cried
The Gray Man stayed on his side as well
He worked hard everyday
He grew more weary each day
He cried
But he laughed
He wasn’t beautiful
But he smiled
Everyday was harder than the day before
But he didn’t mind
Because he had lived
Everyday the Gray Man met new and wonderful people
They came to the river to make a decision
To cross or not to cross
As he turned to me
I looked into his eyes
I saw what the years took away from him
But I saw what they had brought him as well
And then he asked me
“So, will you cross the river?”