The Sentinel

A lone sentinel wanders by
Under the cloudless, moonlit sky
He guards a nearby marble stone
And there he stays, always alone
His one true duty he does not defy
It's not his place to question why
And so he guards the obelisk
Never to have taken risk
He does not ever leave its side
His master's wish, he must abide
But then the sentinel hears a cry
"Everything you know is a lie"

The sentinel hears but does not listen
For he cannot hear without permission
His master's will is all that matters
But still he turns, and his armor clatters
He sees the owner of the voice
And for the first time he faces a choice
Should he listen to the speaker?
The decision leaves his mind much weaker
And when the voice calls out again
He listens intently, and the words begin

“Everything you know is a lie”
The sentinel lowers the gaze of his eye
To the man who waits so far below
The rocky hill and fallen snow
A lone sentinel, much like him
Looks back, with his face contorted in a grin
“Why do you wait?” the second sentinel cries
An amused look waits in his eyes
The shocked sentinel stands stock still
“Because it is the master’s will”

But the second sentinel just laughs aloud
At the statement the first had said so proud
The first sentinel does not understand
He closes his fist, and clenches his hand
He raises his voice noticeably
“Why do you not wait with me?”
“The master is gone, the master is dead!”
The second says to the first one’s dread
“All of us left long ago,
And only you remain here so.”

The sentinel slowly sees the truth
The lonely hill is quite the proof
The sentinels that once guarded the hill
Had turned from their master’s will
“Where have they gone?” the first sentinel cries
“To a better place.” The second replies
“Follow me, I’ll show you where.”
But all the first can do is stare
For the second sentinel begins to fade
And still alone the first one stays

The sentinel stares at the spot again
Where the second had disappeared, and then
He stares up at the moonlit sky
And for once he chooses to defy
The words echo around him again
And soon he can no longer hold them in
He screams into the night a mournful cry
“Everything I know is a lie”
He chooses to walk from the stone
And make a future all his own

He walks slowly from the obelisk
Finally ready to take the risk
But something happens he cannot foresee
An irreparable tragedy
As he walks from the rocky hill
Defying his very master’s will
The marble stone breaks away
And crushes him ‘neath its stony ray
And the place where the sentinel once had stood
Had escaped the obelisk’s heavy hood

What caused this to happen at all?
Did the master will this rock to fall?
Or was it purely coincidence
Which brought about such an instance?
The truth lies beyond our eye
So who are we to question why?
The marble stone still marks the crypt
Of the sentinel whose life it ripped
From the rocky, lonely hill
Where a man once stood against his will