Little Warrior

Little warrior, take heart and know this That before you came into my ranks My kingdom had stood untouched Safely guarded in that mountain fortress Where's kept the heart and dreams of its king Where flew the battle flag of solitude overhead With the warning printed so boldly thereon "Don't tread on me!" My kingdom slumbered in a wintered sleep That rendered my reign bereft of flavor Then you, still baptized in bloody victory Let loose your piercing battle cry That shook the very foundation of my kingdom Crumbling down the fortress walls! Little warrior, my first knight, despair not For you've become the salt of my kingdom And the favored champion of this king's heart And by very reason of your appointment Have stayed the axeman his fatal cut To my own mortality, for yet another term. Look now my little prince To that once cold mountain fortress That had imprisoned in cold stone a hollow dream Gloriously basking now in the warmth of defeat Look there, high above the cherry blossoms Where now the nightingale and cardinal sing A new flag, warmly streaming on a spring breeze Proudly raised in the fullness of my heart This battle weary king's final treasure At last, at long, long, last... Flies my precious white flag! Timothy I. Brumley * A poem for my son that conveys the emotions I felt while witnessing the miracle of his birth Written in free verse form as a reminder that freedom is never won free of cost, but instead requires upon her sacred alter, the greatest of all sacrifices.