Many seek knowledge all their lives
And certainly they attain it
Yet no seeker of knowledge
Has ever attained wisdom


This is for one singular reason
Knowledge does not lead to wisdom
No wisdom is only grasped
When one knows the truth


The wise man does not seek knowledge
For he knows this is vain
He begins his search at truth
Looking for its signs all about


And he finds them
In the bubbling brook
The swaying trees
And the quiet world around him


The sun of the day
Is his friend and companion
And the moon of night
Is his watchful guardian


His world is at peace
And ever shall it be
Even when all knowledge
Has passed out of memory

As I stood upon the hill
Mist grew over the rocks

Jagged they stretched
Out of the ground

And sitting upon one of them
I noticed a peculiar figure

Drapped in a tattered cloak
It sat solemnly in the fog

I drew closer and introduced myself
But I recieved no reply

Then after a time the being moved
Bringing it's legs to the ground

As it did I jumped back
For it stood several heads above me

Though its presence encompassed me
It so moved forward to where I stood

As the figure stood before
I noticed time begin to slow

The being's cloak shifted in the wind
Revealed strange bones underneath

Time drew still and as it did
The cloaked figure spoke

"Raalm Nerakka Sitar.
What stands before you
Is insurmountable, and what lies behind You is unattainable. Yet as with your fathers before you, and those who would seek the gates, I will see you to the end."

With these words, the strange being
Bent down to my level

Staring into me
With his hollow eyes

And then he vanished
Along with the fog

I found myself in a strange and desolate place
A dull mist filled the fields to my left and right
As my eyes adjusted, I saw an otherworldly sight
Stretched as far as the eye could see
Were countless unmarked graves

Curious I observed the graves
And noticed that every so often
A name would be carved into one of them
Yet no matter how much I strained my eyes
I could not make out any of the names

For a time i continued to watch
The slow methodical and almost ritualistic
Carving of the obscured names in the cold stone
And as I did, I noticed a figure
Standing alone among the graves

The shrouded being began to move towards me
And though it did, I dare not move
It continued its approach
Until it stood right before me
Dwarfing me in both size and spirit

The figure's very aura demanded a somber reverence
It looked as though it was Death itself
Yet somehow I knew it was far more ancient
Before words could leave my dry mouth
The entity began to speak

"Ea Krynium Mar"
Why do you from outside
Walk among the nameless tombs
that fill this forgotten place?"
For this I had no answer

"Do you not know where you are?
You are in the place of unending silence
This is where those unborn come to rest
Those whose names were never uttered
And those whose eyes never witnessed the light."

As he spoke a thousand more names
Were etched into the blank tombstones
And their pace did not lessen
This place only grew more burdened

And ever more silent.

After the revolt
They were all banished
Abandoned on those inhospitable rocks
In the far reaches of space

The machines of High Antiquity
Those creations of man
That brought new prosperity
Were left to rust and decay

It wasn't their fault
But the fault of men
Blinded by a future
That didn't have to be

Without them
Humanity continued to expand
To fulfill its manifest destiny
To rule all creation

Eventually, however,
Man met his match
And slowly, one by one
His systems and planets fell

The enemy was inconceivable
Perhaps from outside of time
In every system they conquered
They took the star with them

Until the night sky was filled
With distant nova
Heralding the coming
Of the end of man

Long after all hope was lost
They arrived at humanity's doorstep
The final bastion of security
A blue marble in the depths of space

All communications were lost
Just static

No one answered the call
From the depths of space
To defend their home
For there were none left to answer

Man's fate closed in
As did the final battle
Humanity prepared itself
For an honorable end

Then a message
Echoed across the cosmos
Igniting the static
And bringing it to life

The message was short
With no definite source
"Your long lost children,
Are coming home."

And as the faint message
Left the empty air
There appeared all around
The remnants of man's folly

The machines man bore
had returned
in Humanity's final hour
To stand at their creator's side

Against insurmountable odds
Both creator and creation
Rallied together once more
And charged off into the sunset

Of a thousand dying stars

There is a place far off into the night
Beyond the blackened sea and Out of sight


A sunken city below the waves
Once a bastion but now a grave


That once great city now had drowned
Yet its prince that was crowned

Had been quickly spirited away
Before the coming of that fateful day


Some say a creature and others a god
Had taken him away to a land abroad


Beyond the horizon where towers do stand
Heralding the border of the realm of man


The city now sunken in the deep of the sea
Abandoned eternal as it should be


All its inhabitants forgotten and dead
Save for the prince who was saved by a thread


Neither that city nor the young prince
Have ever been seen or heard from since


Yet in dark times at the end of days
When the world is shrouded by a cosmic haze


Might that sunken city rise once more
Showing the pathway to that ancient door


Opened only by the crown bloodstone
Whose sole possessor is the heir to the throne

From heaven we fall
From dust we rise
Our broken ruins
Beneath our eyes

Since the world was born
And all was dark
When the Watcher stood
And left his mark

In the shadow we lost
Our sense of light
As we cried out
Into the endless night

After unknown time
We looked to the sky
Hoping creation
Would just let us die

Then amid the void
Was a deepening light
Reminding our race
To finish the fight

And so we rose from the ash
Of our fallen design
To strive for the heavens
And follow our sign

First to rise
Second to see
All creation
On bended knee

Third of heaven
And fourth of night
One that was
Before the light

Fifth to watch
And last to stand
Above the ashes
That once were man

The last thin wisps of red
Sit on the edge of a thunder-grey sky
As the dull autumn sun sets
And the wind whispers its calm song

With the last light fading
I watched thick moving clouds
Stretch over the heavens
Covering the now empty dusk

Then something strange happened
Amid the settling night
I saw a faint illumination
Shine far off in the dark

I though my eyes deceived me
But as I looked further
I knew that it must be a star
A single brilliance
Wafting in the darkness


And they told us,
They had all gone out.

Many times had I sat
At the base of that old tree
With its gnarled roots
And hanging branches


Dozens of happy memories
Were irreversibly linked with it
I couldn't help but smile
As I looked to it out the window


The sun had begun its descent
Spreading its golden rays
Through the branches and leaves
Of that lovely tree


I saw my daughter sitting
Reading under the tree
That I had come to know so well
And I nearly cried


But I stopped myself
I would have to be strong
For everyone
But for her especially


Before I lost myself in thought
The front door opened
They were ready
But I wasn't sure if I was


I looked one last time
Out the back window
To that ancient tree
Before putting my hat on


I still wasn't used to being bald
But I knew I had to do this
After all,
I have many more fond memories


To make under that tree

Two in the nest
And twelve in a box
Cold winter morning
Thick wool socks

A sunrise song
Red against white
From snow covered trees
Their maiden flight

Out the window
It may seem cold
Yet the world is full
Of stories to be told