Legacy of the Stranger

Frozen bodies lifeless scattered all around

On the snow-covered field surrounding it’s walls

Remnants of a battle where death is found

Teeming amid the darkness as nights shadows fall

Resting in the ruins of this unified sleep

Entrenched within a warrior’s hand

Stands and axe raised higher than the dark and deep

Still silence of this frozen wasteland.

Her radiant bronze armor With blinding blaze Descends like the shadows With Medusa’s gaze

As Athena appears

Like a healer of light From beyond the fortress walls In a splendorous sight.

She reaches out her hand

Touching the warrior’s skin. The warmth radiates To his soul deep within.

He had laid there lifeless

Just a corpse nothing more But her touch replenished him And his strength was restored.

As he opened his eyes

There was a sudden flash of light Then a vision with meaning Of a journey in sight.

No words were spoken

When their eyes met at last. He knew he must be quick To accomplish his task.

Her radiant bronze armor

With blinding blaze Ascends like the shadows With Medusa’s gaze

As Athena disappears

Like a healer of light Beyond the fortress walls In a splendorous sight.

Life and death have ceased for him rising with the moon at his back.

In his mind the vision of truth appears calling him to a tangled track.

Making his way into the forest he finds strength from the aftermath

Igniting a fire within his heart that scorches the frozen path.

Nearer with every single step the stars in the sky are his guide.

Aglow in the night Orion’s belt and spear glisten from on high.

Like the hunter towering overhead he searches for treasure untold.

his faith is he will recover this prize worth more than silver or gold.

He had passed there before like the wind through the trees.

With time now the essence the brave stranger flees

Not for his own life or for the world’s woes

As he travels the track through the bitter deep snows.

He evades the great evil that pursues the prize

That comes thirsting for blood with hell’s fire in their eyes.

On the wings of the night with the prize in his hands

The stranger enters a clearing where a cold darkness stands.

To confront the wickedness he lays down his load

And grips his battle axe by its handle of gold.

Redemption for the struggle - revenge for the soul

Encircled by the enemy as his heart takes control

Covered in blood he charges into the haze

Knowing that death lurks within the cold maze

Overtaken by fury he swings steel through the night

No fear and no way out except for the fight

In the blindness off battle lies the verge of defeat

Nearing his life’s threshold as his rage incomplete

Grabs the dark shadows and falls into the light

No fear and no way out except for the fight…

As swift as a panther stunning its prey He slashes and bashes. Blood squirts in a spray.

With a fury and hatred that hides any dread

He swings blazing steel stained crimson red.

The evil that finds him with a mission to kill

Inflicts the brave stranger with a wound that won’t heal.

But protecting the prize he conquers these foes.

All across the woodland a river of red flows

Through the cracks of the earth meeting the very core.

As Orion shines brighter than ever before

The stranger gazes out across the moonlit sky

To pray for a miracle to save the legend – the prize.

The frigid merciless wind chills the wound at his side

As he rises from the shadows of the darkness defied.

His head his bloody but unbowed as he returns to the track.

There is a thunderous roar but he does not look back

As he continues the conquest across the mountains and streams

Through the threshold of death to the kingdom of dreams.

With his journey nearly finished and his own death drawing nigh

He uncovers the prize – an infant – a cry –

new to the world but considered a sage

a legend of peace and king for the age.

Facing the fortress with his mission complete

He surrenders the child then turns and retreats.

There is suddenly silence as he enters the wood

Weak from the journey removing his hood

To reveal not a stranger but a man thought long gone

Announced dead in a struggle leaving vacant his throne.

In this forest of death he staggers through freezing rain

Trembling as the cold wind stabs his relentless pain.

He falls to the shadows suffering and alone

With blood flowing from his side - his life nearly gone.

Away in the distance - a spirit drifts through the trees

Gliding through the night like a cool winter breeze.

Reaching out her hand she touches his dying soul.

His heart is blessed eternal and his wound is healed in whole.

Her eyes foretell the future as he meets them with his own.

Turning fast to depart the darkness she does not go alone.

Her radiant bronze armor with blinding blaze

Ascends like the shadows with Medusa’s gaze

As Athena disappears like a beacon of light

Beyond the vast forest in a splendorous sight...

Accompanied by the spirit of the hero brave and bold.

As they vanish in the night his body lays motionless in the cold.

Newer Poems Fire Giver Serendipity

Other Poetry by Jason Moore

Mythological Journeys
Cuchullain (Irish Hero)
Death of Beowulf
About the Poet Jason Moore
The Wrath of Posiedon
Analyzing the Rendezvous
Foul Encounters
Maps and Mazes