Executioner's Song

Three walk the path to darkness on this night-- one to embrace, one to observe, and one Deus ex Machina, a travesty of the divine; the role is mine to serve as I create. I am death's man. There is a fissure in the earth and I must stand alone upon the other side against all time. Though on another day I might perform the hero's art, there is no part of me that may be left to be redeemed. I am death's man. It matters not that my commission is but once or many times-- that I am sweet and fair, that I may laugh and lust and forswear luxury before all humankind, I am death's man. There is a shell around me; though it is invisible, it still may hide the gaping wound upon my heart. It was my choice to be unique although I could not know the ultimate perfection of that dull inchoate dread which gathered over me when I became death's man. And do I pray, you say? No hope, no penitence may reach the void inside of me. My smile alone is alien and unreflected in return. It is I you do not know, nor may I ever fathom you. How may it be the beating of your heart resounds in me? Now stand aside. I am death's man. ~