I started this week thinking I wanted to write about magic trees. I ended up with a poem about a big epic Lord of the Rings-style fantasy battle. It's funny how the brain works sometimes.

Ten thousand swords unsheathe all at once,

And then ten thousand more.

Steel’s sharp song give prelude’s cry,

To the closing moments of this war.


Men and women;

Dwarves and elves;

Orcs and giants too.

With dragons and heroes and wizards march,

To see this final conflict through.


The horns echo with a bellowed blast,

No more waiting now – it’s begun.

Let the arrows fly and the spells lay waste,

To this foe we must see undone.


This shadow will not blot us out,

So long as together we stand.

This world – held up by a fraying thread;

Its fate rests in our hands.


And though terror can’t help but find us fast,

When the dire tide rushes forth.

There is no other way to follow.

This battle’s our only true north.


Courage carry our friends and kin,

Through these odds that would see them fall.

Fight to raise the sun again,

And defy the warlock’s gall.


Though his horde is swollen fat,

With the cruelest monsters of our lands.

He lacks the will that we have;

Driving every woman and every man.


He fights for the shallow conqueror’s glory,

While we fight for those that we love.

Nothing on this Earth will stop us,

Nor in the hells below or heavens above.


When dawn arrives we’ll still be here.

Stand with us now and see it come true.

We’ll battle back this darkening cloud,

And watch tomorrow’s world rise anew.