(Author's Note: This poem is told in the past tense. It is from the point of view of Cloud as he carries Aerith to her final resting place, after her death at Sephiroth's hands. The stanzas each consist of four lines and eight syllables. The rhyme scheme is A-A-A-A, B-B-B-B, C-C-C-C and so on. I hope you enjoy it, and as always, reviews are much loved!)

Aerith's Death

The trees had bark of palest white

That gleamed within the moon's fair light

They towered on beyond my sight

And lit the dark and starless night

My eyes were red, my throat was dry

I swallowed down an anguished cry

My destination was nearby

Beyond the black and hollow sky

In my arms I held a flower

Whose blood had chilled within the hour

And without her gentle power

My world was broken, empty, sour

Blood pooled out from her soft white skin

And flowed from where the sword had been

The scarlet steeped my soul in sin

And crushed my heart and mind within

Though agony had left me blind

The lake was there for me to find

My fate was brutally unkind:

I had to leave her there behind

No words could ease my trampled heart

Her death had torn my world apart

The end had come before the start

It seemed she came just to depart

Her laughter and her joyful grace

The smile always on her face

Had vanished now without a trace

All stolen by death's cold embrace

I wondered in despairing pain

If she had sacrificed in vain

Her eyes like emerald champagne

Were shut in prayer when she was slain

What was it she had tried to do?

What plan had she been clinging to?

Was hope what she'd hoped to renew

Before the blade had ran her through?

I tightly cradled her small frame

Within my mind I spoke her name

My body shook with violent shame

I knew with guilt I was to blame

Into the moonlit lake I stepped

Within my arms my angel slept

I trembled and in silence wept

This fate was too cruel to accept

I wanted this to be a dream

A nightmare or a villain's scheme

But since I could not wake or scream

I carried her into the stream

The water lapped against my waist

I looked at her as my heart raced

She could not ever be replaced

I let her die; I was disgraced

I had to leave her here alone

The bravest girl I'd ever known

The one for whom my love had grown

Although it was not ever shown

She was still lovely to behold

Despite her body turning cold

I longed to voice my love untold

Of passion I'd tried to withhold

With tenderness I stroked her face

Each feature was my own to trace

But once I left this solemn place

She would be lost from my embrace

I knew at last the time had come

And so my arms both weak and numb

Released the girl from Midgar's slum

Whose loss I could not overcome

She sunk into the basin clear

My hope, my light, the one so dear

I watched my true love disappear

Beneath the water's crystal leer

When she had vanished from my view

I felt my whole heart crack in two

My eyes were stricken, glassy, blue

I ached and burned with pain anew

The world was a failing device

That suffered trapped in mankind's vice

And she had gladly paid the price

With her most selfless sacrifice

Her gift rekindled our frail hope

Put victory within our scope

But with her death I could not cope

And spiraled on a downward slope

I lost the one I had lived for

But I would go and fight this war

And in my heart that day I swore

That in death we would meet once more.