Silence can be an impassable shield,
Or an effortlessly piercing spear, 

Barricaded behind this bulwark,
One can strike without fear. 
 
Assaulting these stony crenellations,
Any enemy is made the fool, 

Stones and arrows fall lifeless,
But beware this entropic tool. 
 
Smelted in fires of wrath,
Forged by hammers of pain, 

Tempered in a bath of mistrust,
Sharpened by challenge refrained...
 
It leeches hope, returning nothing,
Depleting both meaning and life. 

Equally capable of smothering the self,
As it is of stifling strife. 
 
Leaving warriors trapped in their castles,
Battlefield abandoned, bodies tossed, 

Besieged by a war of attrition,
That can neither be won nor lost.