An Epic poem dedicated to the memory of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons without whose victory over the Viking invaders present-day England might never have come onto being
This peace hath seemed the shallow
Or a whore who steals our hearts
Whilst mocking our desire.
Yet ‘tis God’s skilled hands did weave
The splendrous fabric of the hour,
Which the sun’s encroaching light
Illumines, then voraciously devours
And rends with cruel hands
Th’inchoate tapestry of dawn,
Unmakes the Weaver’s image
In the moment it is formed.
The chill wind stirs the hackles
Of the swift-approaching hour
And the fingers of a feral cold
Fasten hold with baleful power.
Fell time is like an army
Hell-bent on its advance,
Whose ire shall pierce the heart
Like the blade of poisoned lance.
For Fate hath cast its spiteful runes
Upon a future close concealed
And mapped all paths of my destiny
To this day and the waiting field.