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Call Of the
Guardian
I
rise as a guardian of the night and see the light of the fire.
I
race through the streets of the sleeping city
Toward
a beckoning fervent beast waiting in malevolent flames.
I
arrive and my heart is seized by the swiftness of the fury and the anguish.
The
fire breaches the darkness with a light
Both
savage and sublime, as fiery fingers reach and scratch at the blackening sky.
I
push out the borders of fear; away with the voices of doubt.
With
ladder and line and a fervid heart,
With
purpose and push, I force myself into a voracious red wind.
I
dive forward into darkness beneath the erupting ash
And
give myself to the infinite void;
Into
halls black with death and red with rage.
I
reach with a desperate hand across the narrowing divide
Between
the dying and the dead
And
take from there what that red beast can never claim.
I
carry my fallen brethren into the awaiting arms of Hope.
I
lie the lifeless ones down,
Surrendering
them to God and wonder of His Way.
I
stand upon the smoldering remnants of evil’s effort
Both
victor and vanquished, as the soot and the steam
Rise
around me like the vestiges of a breath long expelled.
I
am weary of body and never far from death but life is my calling
And
I hearken to its’ voice everywhere,
Never
to leave unheard the cries of the daunted and the desperate.
I
stand steely tall along the sad blue line
As
those who gave with greater love
Pass
highly by, below the echoes of melancholy strains.
I
return through the haze of a city dawn and ride through the days.
And
tomorrow and tomorrow I will stand this watch,
Ever
aware, ever vigilant, waiting for a distant toll to call me.
O,
I ride as a guardian of the night, toward the far away glow
Of
my destiny, dauntless, duty bound,
Endeavoring
to a life fully-lived within the grasp of mortality.
And
when my watch is over; when my tour is ended