Shadows of Time

Who will undo the shadows of time
For my suspicious eyes desire not dreams
Nor a mask of topaz ill worn
Upon a field of battles waged in vain

As the sun rises in listless eddies
I'm the prince of tumultuous armies
A sentinel of hours, besieged
By passion's trampling throng

Fashioned objects of living bones
Blandishing weapons against the flesh
Like lightning scrawling my name
Across beleaguered heavens dome

Nature's hermit rudely accosted
The hero's grail stripped from his hands
His senses honed in ecstatic solitude
Pulled screaming from the dampening earth

Crowned with wings and flaming song
Leading the assault on castle walls
Through midnight vigils of arduous task
Till sunlight thaws the element of ice