Tell me, Fool, what did you see
As you stood naked upon the heath,
Screaming at the storm that mocked
Your greatness as time mocks stone,
As the mad mock the sane?
What did you see in your mind's eye,
As it turned inward towards your heart?
Towards the memories of a time long ago
And the name, the face, the woman,
The single horned beast that forsook you?
Standing upon the strand, a sliver of
Purity gleaming under your father's
Shrinking shadow and driving the mad,
Flaming beast into the surf as it
Once drove my brethren, the foam
Licking its hooves and the tide
Swallowing it, the crumbling of the
Castle and your father's scream as
He plunged to his doom?
Do you remember the stream of beasts
Erupting from the waves crashing against
The shore, bringing all of his works to ruin
Before vanishing into the distance like some long,
Forgotten myth, a vision, a dream
Of a starved mind?
Do you remember the one that remained
To say farewell? Or is there Nothing left but
The stain of your father's malice driving all
Into the sea of despair, drowning hope in a
Tide of hatred and turning the hearts of men to stone?
What did you see, Fool, as the storm raged around you?
Did you see me, standing against the lightning streaked
Sky for what I truly am? Or have I just become
Another mare cast aside for lack of lies because
Of what you saw when you looked into my eyes?
Not the man you were but the man you would become.
The old, mad, ruined monarch realizing that the cries of
Worship were but echoes of your own insanity
Cracking the walls of your mind, bringing
It all crashing around you. Your father's
Product you now stand tall among the ruins of apathy.
You ride the madness, suddenly left for deaf
As it breaks, leaving only the silent calm of
Enlightenment.
And as I turn away I look one last
Time upon the man who loved the woman
I was never meant to be, and whisper a
Name that is only a myth in your mind,
Lear, king, Fool, and victim of a world
That punishes dreamers.