Once upon a time Midnight weary And dreadfully teary There lived once a duke A lord, politic and sacrificial Open his heart came the lovers When once opened His heart carried with it The mark of Cain To all those who make contact May they forever burn So the duke began to love And his mark was seen And viewed by all Those who love him in return were cursed With lack of intellect Or lack of discipline Which is necessary to live And to love a duke Some were consumed By their own flames Other by a different torch The duke coughed blood in his sleep The duke breathed with air so deep The duke limped when out of sight The duke was human, although Most saw him as inhuman, an interloper in their race With more power than most wished Anyman to see But beyond that Ducal pomp And toils of royal office Conducting commerce And engaging in war Far beyond that which any blade Or any dollar might touch The duke say and bleed And watched his fingers turn to rivers From blood bleeds new life A change in existence in new fluidity But once the old blood Mixed with the new, the existence only partially changed The duke realized he was always he And there was no way Or means by which His soul could be free The duke with his weakness His vulnerability so hidden By necessity of live For his façade was of iron And around him Of mache He tore through them To try and see reality But around him Was only facades And humans Much like him A room full of dreamers Dancing behind masks Wishing to see more than mask But unwilling to shed their own A masquerade of life Neverending dance For even in death, truth remains untold As the duke saw the hypocrites And as the duke viewed his subjects His loves began to fade And he began To detach It was then the duke’s office Was worth more than himself It was then the dollars he owned Were of more value then the words he spoke The duke faded forom life To recede into his disease To live which his vulnerability so hidden To seek would take years Then came the duchess So gossamer yet hidden behind her eyes One so vulnerable as the duke himself And so they danced The duke took away her mask And after long Her nails Succeeded over The dark and cold iron Which shielded the duke From such things However the duke Could never be with the duchess As she was farther away from him The happiness which had much receded So long ago And as the duke looked around He realized that truth Life is pain However everything evens out in time He came to look around After being so broken by his duchess And saw another mask of iron Which he tore off in an instant For he knew his own lock Was similar to hers And so the duke awaits For the iron to fall to the floor |