The end is near. The door opens And with it a breath of air But it is no benign gust But the warm murky stench of his presence He is waiting The clouds enter, and with them bring The precipitation of the end Night, that beautiful nurse Has fallen into the abyss Overshadowed by blinding destruction Of that bright inevitable light Which breeds evil. Oh what can stand before, when even the staunchest resistance fails The unbroken redoubt is surrounded Beaten back but not broken yet The end will come And with it the glittering reminiscence Of all that was in the peaceful winter Summer scorches all. We are overrun But in these pockets that are still held we remain Till when must we endure this unknown foe Where are the songs of old and those who sang them Where are the mighty, and the feats of arms renowned The joys of battle and the songs of slaying Or were they just a dream, that blew into the Blue Mountains Strong, but ineffective, against those giants of rock We are dwindling. Every man watches another's back But to what avail, when we exist only in demarcation A mere clean spot on the sullied canvas of the world As we knew it. It too shall fall. There is no glory to be found here. For even though we hold, we give way A yard at a time. The dirge goes up a note We strive to make a worthy end. Yet to whom shall it be of worth? There are none left to sing songs of our courage No one to recite lays of this defiance. Not even the foolhardy dare to hope. For there is no one to hope for. We know of our end. We have made peace with this war. It shall consume us. We shall all fall, and yet, none will be left behind.