Fugitive Dreamer

I too have felt a fugitive's fear
Terror of footsteps drawing near
A hunter's tread on the forest track
Bid you flee and not look back
'Lest your nightmare should appear

Beating wings and heart's distress
Pulled down to the earth to rest
Hidden deep in leafy mold
Protection not just from the cold
Above the world on the rocky crest

And yet, safety eludes the night
The woods below disgorge a light
Voices thunder from the dark
So sure are they to close their mark
Who silently gasps, shrinks out of sight

The crevice is cold, the wind whips high
Sequestered I hear my guardian die
They swamp the ledge--I hold my breath
Their heavy boots resound with death
One pauses, turns to catch my eye

Chilling fear snatches my breath away
Knowledge that I'll die this day
A single second left to act
Freeze still, my liberty intact,
Compassion, before he turns away

Still shocked to stillness by his eyes
My capture takes me by surprise
Assassin's hand a hammer sledge
Suddenly flung aloft from the ledge
Wings beating frozen starlit skies

Immortality

They rode off into the clear midnight
Into the sunrise, into the pouring rain
Towards a hard fight, a quick death
Or a victorious finish; this immortality
Had a hard grip on their souls
Whether for freedom, or true love,
Or the heady rush that only battle brings
Still, whatever the reason, they gave themselves to it
Gave in to fate, stronger than questions
Honor that cannot say no
But thinking, I wonder, did any of them regret…?

The young one, hands toughened but not yet
Stained with blood he has no right to
Looking back from his horse towards
The place he called home, the ones
He leaves for
The old one, bidding farewell to long summer evenings
And masses of laughing grandchildren
Scrambling to climb towering trees he planted
The strong one whose last sight
Was of his wife
Hands caressing the life she carries
Do they regret the path of immortality that
Carries them away?

I wonder how their stories ended
And I wonder how many of them returned
And, of those who did, how many
Decided immortality was worth it