At first, it hurts,
Then you rage,
And eventually, you laugh.
That's how we come full circle.
That's how we close eras,
How we put the past behind us.

Because there's more to being human
Than just flesh and blood,
Because sometimes life
Isn't as simple as heroes and villains,
Because the gods do watch
As we're trapped in our bodies and our minds,
We must all come full circle.

When the Queen of Composure has fallen,
When you realize you're nothing
But a set-piece in a giant chess game,
You'll understand when your time
       to understand is over
That a man can become a chess piece
        or a chess player;
Chess players can choose how to play,
Chess pieces cannot.
But still, we all come full circle.

The poetry seems to have left me,
And my veins ache for it
With such brutal, primal need.
I need more books, more dreams,
Less life
That only seems to smother me,
     at every breath,
With all its strength, its scars, its history,
With all its devastating beauty.
Still, I must come full circle.

I've learned as much as I could from the dead,
Now it's time to listen to the living.
For the love of Aphrodite,
See the warrior fallen
As we come full circle.

First, it hurts,
Then you rage,
And eventually, you laugh.
As we close eras,
As we put the past behind us,
As we come full circle.