ROUGHLY INSCRIBED

Cutting the air, swung in a wide arc,

Battle Axe finds its mark,

Splitting sinew and flesh,

Crushing, splintering bone,

Words spoken, daggers and spears,

Tearing the soul and bleeding life,

Splattered words in flecked droplets,

Like a scroll tattooed in wine,

Verse roughly inscribed like initials,

Gouged from the rotting trunk of an old Oak,

Fathers oration, delusion,

Non existent audience ovation,

Over lesions toughened like rawhide,

Leather against assault,

I am written and told,

You are a diamond in the rough,

From one side of his face,

The other screaming,

No good! I'll kill you!

Barbarian, belt wielder,

Words gnawed into my bust,

Posed in survivalist strength,

A core of soft clay pain,

Enveloping the blood scribed,

Tale of a veteran sons,

Story rolled tight,

In papyrus of human tissue,

Knotted into my gut,

A grimace spreads across my face,

You behold a smile.