Shadows of the dead

The heart hangs heavy of a warrior overcome
Twigs break beneath my feet as I make the long way home
When the time for duty came the fear was clear in their eyes
Their painful howls will ring when they see just I survive
My kinsmen lay behind me, prostrate in open graves
Cold and still, bereft of life, the field-of-slaughter's prey
As daylight wanes and birdsong fades I ponder what befell
Laid back on my bed of leaves I curse that I still dwell

Shadows of the dead bathe the field at sunset
Echoes of the slain haunt the dawn at daybreak

As dawn's embrace approaches and breaks my somber dreams
I call to mind our falling flag, my brethren's final screams
The harrowing sounds of conquest still pierce my troubled soul
As bent beneath the weight of grief I grimly wander on

Some are born to thrive, others doomed to die
As fate decrees, the threads proclaim
The path an arrow flies, a spear-thrust parried or true
A kingdom saved, or a tribe enslaved
The web that wyrd will weave, the outcome fortune deems
Joys unbound, or a burial mound
Courage that lasts or fails, the wind on hostile sails
Sorrow's tears or blissful cheers