Tribute in Verse

Yeah, this was originally for a class in the style of A few lines composed above Tintern Abbey, but I put a little more into it this time.

Tribute to Great Men

Step across the seething marsh,

And peer inside the twisted ruins,

Memories of past life abound

And hang stark against the drained, the dreary,

the here, the now,

The reminder of life forgotten and faded.

To the left, a tangled mass.

Once glorious rows of blesséd fruit.

Ambrosia once flowed from these vines.

Blood and sweat,

Life and love,

Time and tears.

All poured into this hallowed ground,

this sacrament to great men.

The lifeblood of a generation,

shed to sustain this land.

My forefather nurtured this land with his last mortal breath.

Now all that remains of his passion,

His life's work,

His very soul,

is the ruins of a once great farm.

Now all that remains of the once pristine plants are tangled wrecks,

Seething masses,

Wizéned and thorny vines choking apple trees.

What was once the envy of the county,

becomes a tribute to mourn the passing of great men.

What once made the finest cider in the land now only serves for

worms to drink their fill.

Look upon these last vestiges of life:

The few remaining windfalls,

Sweetened by time, age, passion.

Taste the sultry sweetness.

The scarlet red, so vivid,

the color washes away the sorrow,

if just for a moment.

The silky taste, conjuring phantom memories of

passionate love shared under these ancient boughs,

The tears shed for young love, lost in a distant land,

The joy of redemption,

The serenity of knowing that the family is whole once more.

But even as you finish,

Know what has been shed here.

Remember the cries of passion unmeasurable,

of agony unbearable.

Remember the whispers of a legendary deal.

A man for whom the livelihood of his body,

Shall be the lifeblood of his land.

That when he could no longer raise his ancestral land,

Both should wither and perish.

That was the legacy of a great man.

So as you wander through this forlorn tribute to great men,

Raise your applecore up on high.

Remember the sacrifices made these great men,

And cast those seeds you hold to the heavens.

Let new life sprout from the legacy of greate men.

Let memories of new passion sprout.

Let these great men not go forgotten.

But most of all,

Let the heritage of great men flow through you

As you cast the seeds of a new generation to the winds.