*This section of Redwall poems are all based on or inspired by my main Redwall character, Riala Goldentail. Her full story (well, what's written of it, anyhow) is told in Vengeance Quest. The newer [and better] poems are at the top; the older and embarrassingly poorly written ones are further down.*



Catharsis

I hide it

Well- the pain within.

None know the squirrel beneath

The shell of silence, coldness, standing

Apart from all who might try to befriend this

Squirrel. Even I cannot remember when last

I allowed myself to feel grief or to feel pain

Or shame. But sometimes the pressure

From within becomes far too great

To withstand and so

I take to the trees

Letting green leaves

And strong boughs

And the purely

Physical trials of

Staying aloft burn

Away the shadows

Within. I can forget my

Past when racing the wind

Through the trees, if only for a time.

"Hatred"

'There's no reason ye couldn't live the rest of yer life happy.'

...You make it sound so easy...

Have you ever felt grief so deep

You can't think

Can't act

Can't move?

Ever been touched by fury so intense

It overrides all reason

All emotion

Leaving you dry of tears?

And then the fury settles to cold hatred

Smoldering hatred

Hatred so deep

Nothing in all the world can drive it out

And the only thing you can do is obey it...

Spend seasons of life trying to satisfy it

As it consumes you

Becomes your only purpose

Nothing you can do to stop it....

You want me to smile?

You think it's so easy to stop hating?

When all you've ever done is

hate and kill

kill and hate

When all you've ever known is hatred...

When it's all you are...

Emotion's the first to die in a life like that.

You forget how to laugh

Forget how to cry

Forget how to live

Forget everything but anger

Everything but hatred.

'No reason ye couldn't live the rest of yer life happy.'

So the mind says...

The heart tells a different story.

"I Am No Warrior"

I am no warrior-

I am a fighter.

Warriors abide by a code of honor-

Do right

Be merciful

Protect the weak

Have a conscience

Let your foe have an equal chance.

I am not merciful.

I have no conscience.

I do whatever is needed to defeat my enemy.

A warrior disarms the opponent-

And lets them retrieve their weapon.

I disarm my opponent-

And then I run them through.

I admire warriors.

I envy them their honor

Their compassion

Their weaknesses that are truly strengths.

But I am not a warrior.

I am cold of heart and hard of soul

And I do unto vermin

As they do unto me.

"Warrior's Heart"

Face of stone

Standing apart

Does the warrior have a heart?

Shadowed soul

Blood-soaked blade

Is the warrior e'er afraid?

Red-veiled eyes

Storm above

Can the warrior someday know love?

Hardened heart

Battle mind

Does the warrior know how to be kind?

Chains of hate

Eyes wintry

Will the warrior e'er be free?



"Father"

Father, I have finished what you began-

The legacy of hate passed on to me

With your death.

I tracked the wolverine as you must have done-

From frigid North where hate was sparked

To sun-scorched South.

You said he killed one dear to you-

Though you never told me that one's name

Or relation.

But he killed one so dear to me-

With treachery he destroyed you

And my life.

My reason for life has been hate since then-

And a desire to avenge your death

On the wolverine.

Now, Father, I have gained my revenge-

Done that which you died attempting to do

Leaving me alone.

Tell me, Father, what to live for now-

For my hatred was my life, and I've

Nobeast left to hate.

Vengeance seems a deadly cycle-

One that I'm caught in and

One I can't escape.

Your grave is silent, Father-

You can give me no answers

For you are gone.

I'm still a child, Father-

Though my innocence is gone,

I still need guidance.

But there's no one left to guide me-

I pushed them all away in my quest

And I'm alone.

Father, I have finished what you began-

And now I begin my own search

For a purpose.

1 "Lost"

In the maze of memory

Fraught with traps and snares

Hidden behind mystery

In deepest netherwhere.

Walls of thorn and pain and night

Turning, twisting, shadowed prison

Hide the sun from the world's harsh light

Lock the child in oblivion.

A child wanders through the dark

Crying, searching, ever lost

Lost within the dungeon stark

This is kind protection's cost.

Shields of hate and walls of rage

Moat of grief, fort of mistrust

What was haven is now a cage

Blocking out love with grief's chill gusts.

The walls are stone, void of spirit

The maze is filled with soulless things

Only the child within the deepest pit

To a tenuous life still clings.

But one stolen from light cannot live long

Eyes shadowed and soulless show only death

Soon toppled must be the fortress strong

Else the child within will never again draw breath.



"Riala Goldentail's War Song"

I have a tail of golden

A heart full of vengeance

From when the Longclaws crossed my path

My soul is filled with wrath.

Longclaws, you will not live long

Vile black wolverine

My vengeful stick will wreak its song

Of death upon your scum filled head.

Nightdeath Longclaws, I am on your trail

Your days are limited

Soon I'll find you all alone

And my father's death will be avenged.

RIIILLLAAARRRRR!!!

"Riala's Ballad"

Born the daughter of a warrior

On a cold winter's night

The squirrel's mother died giving birth

Died giving Goldentail life.

Rilar Battlecry, a fearsome warrior squirrel

He was the father and caretaker

Of Riala Goldentail

And he protected her well.

But then one night, when Riala

Was but three seasons old

A great enemy of all squirrels

Came to Goldentail's home.

Rilar drew his mighty sword

And charged the wolverine

The Longclaws drew his scimitar

And they battled, good vs. mean.

As Riala watched, screened in the trees

Nightdeath Longclaws growled

Three times, loud and short, carried by the breeze

For Battlecry was winning, the Longclaws had found.

A weasel from the wolverine's band

Strung an arrow to his bow

And with careful and unfortunate aim

The weasel let the arrow go.

Riala's face showed horror

Her soul filled with anguish and pain

As the brave Rilar Battlecry died

From the Longclaws deceptive game.

Goldentail fled through the trees

Blindly because of rage

As she grabbed a satchel and a knife

Her heart felt like it was in a cage.

Riala raced away

From that place of sorrow

Her home, burned behind her

She ran with a stick as a weapon, that she could swing or throw.

On and on, evermore

She stays to the Longclaws' trail

Riala will follow the wolverine

Because her father fell.