When We Were Gods
I. The Sprinter
“Deep seated fear fills my heart to the brim
Determined I set about my course
The landscape flies by
Un-deterred by its speed
“The fear of failure pushes me onward
Never thinking of what I’ve left behind
The others know my fear, can almost taste it
But fear invades their hearts too
“The alkaline taste in my mouth reminds me
Of testing batteries as a child
My tongue would grow numb, as my legs are now
Still the landscape flies by, and still my mother weeps
“Her son, her only child, has made it this far
Only to see his dreams dashed upon the way
The wings of an eagle she’d set upon my feet
If only it would make me faster
“The ribbon approaches, the man ahead is glowing
My fear leaves my heart then
And finds its place in my feet
Faster than any man before, or any hence.
I run towards the line, towards my fate
Blackness overtakes me as I cross the line first
And on the grass I barely hear my name called
My moment has passed”
II. Bedivere
“I hear the screech of rusted armor
And smell the stench of death
Along the way my friends have fallen
And so now I hold my breath
With sword in hand I prepare
And make my peace with God
“Alone in the world I joined this war
For the memory of my dad
I never thought that we might lose
And in turn lose all we had
So now I am alone again
And naturally it’s right
“Patriots all around me
Dead from the enemy’s fire
I never thought I’d make it through
But I made that thought a liar
So now the enemy is before me
Bleeding and dead
“My mother used to sing me a song
‘Let not the tired warrior sleep,’ it went,
‘When the others fall and the reapers reap.’
‘Let not my child’s life be badly spent,’
‘When all around him the dead men weep.’
‘So let not the tired warrior sleep’
‘When the others fall and the reapers reap’
“This tired warrior wishes to sleep
But not here, not on this field
My king and I shall go to a place
Where lives are mended and wounds are healed
‘Let not this tired warrior sleep,’
‘Upon the field where his compatriots lie’
“Let not the tired warrior sleep
When the others fall and the reapers reap
Let not my life be badly spent
When all around me the dead men weep
So let not the tired warrior sleep
He must see it through before he die”
III. The Immortal
“ ‘And thus life has been and will ever be
If any man shall die, he shall die for me
And so away we run as through the mist
And so God takes us within his fist’
“I hear these words, but knew not what the meant
From the mouth of the preacher they came, his neck slightly bent
And yet something within them rang true to me
As something might seem right to a tree
“I pondered, and reflected, and looked within
Still I knew nothing, for I knew not where to begin
‘One day,’ I thought, ‘I will unlock this secret’
I knew not then, and now I deeply regret
“I unlocked life’s secrets, every one
And while I blasphemed, I thought it fun
Never will this old hags body die
Numerous deathbeds empty, I am why
“Life everlasting is what I sought
Now found, it’s not what I thought
And now my life will never end
But still I grow old and still bend
“Forever I will have to live with grief
Never will I look upon the face of the reaper, life thief
And now at an ‘undred and fifty-two
I wish my life would end, I wish I knew
“Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the lord my soul to keep
And if I die before I wake
I pray the lord it is not fake”
IV. Brave Warrior
“I fear to sleep at night,
I know I’ll hear his voice
Shrill and calling
The voice of lunacy
“His eyes laid upon my shoulder
His face upon my back
Maybe another wouldn’t have done it
Maybe I should have left him to die
“He cursed me with every step I took
I guess now his curses take hold
I remember how he looked when we found him
His plane crashed in the green
“His arms hung by a thread
His eyes likewise, the same
And where his nose once had been
A bleeding hole bubbled life
“His face was torn and mangled
His legs ripped in half
And when we came upon him
His life was draining out
“We rushed into the clearing
He begged us let him die
The cover fire took down three of us
As the Cong hid their smiles
“We worked as fast as we could
To put the flames upon him out
The smell was one of charred fat
And of something more grotesque
“We bandaged his wounds
And I ran him out into the woods
Through hell we went
To save that poor man’s life
“The bullets ran past our heads
And several more went down
But still I carried him faithfully
Though he asked to die
“He killed himself that Christmas
And I have been haunted by him since
The man I would not let die
Now he makes me pay penance”
V. The Man I Was
“He will not leave me alone
The man I was will not die
And even though he is fondly remembered by most
He is no longer me
“He ruled his domain with a kind benevolence
He would give you his last dime
Anything you wanted, he would try to provide
Then something faithful happened
Causing him to leave
The man I was ran from here
Now I’m back in his place
“He went away to search for himself
And he came back someone else
All knowing benevolence replaced
By cynicism, apathy, and despair
“The man I was ran from her
To the man I am she doesn’t exist
All she stood for is wrong
All she was has been replaced
“The man I was is gone now
Maybe not forever
One day the man I am will be replaced
By the man that I will be.”
VI. The Noble Explorer
“Over the ocean, many thousand miles away
There is a land called Youngsland
No one there grows old
“No one there dies, and nothing goes wrong
The people are all happy, seven wives for each man,
And all are fit, young, and nubile
“Once I went there, and I shall go again
If only I had a fleet and a crew
I would be there in but a moment
“The sea is treacherous and hard to cross
Many ships have floundered on the waves
And many men have died
Sacrifice to its god
“I go there anyway, with my head held high
I’ve seen the far shores and beheld its peoples
I’ve eaten the fruits of this land, and drank its waters
“I have partaken of the pleasures there
Ambrosia and nectar cannot compare
I speak the truth, it is heaven there
“Join me on my journey to heaven
Young men, bring your hearts, unbreakable,
And I will show you wonders to melt them
VII. Olympian
“The world seems so small to me now
So insignificant, my achievements
But they didn’t seem that way then
“The wind was blowing off the sea
The smell of salt was in the air
And the sun shone bright overhead
“We stood ready, our moment was nigh
The dirt track warm beneath our feet
In a moment we would fly
But for the moment we stood still
“Our hearts were racing, then we were off
In seconds it was all over
We saw we had lost
“In our midst was a god among men
He’d run us all to our graves
And still we looked upon him with awe
“We stood looking at him, our mouths agape
Our hearts pounding with exertion
Our faces masks of shame
We watched him stand before us
And disappear without a trace”
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