The Norman Fortress

From a wide square with an ancient marble fountain, which borrowed its fresh water from a nearby, pristine river; I looked far away...to fix my glance on the Norman fortress rising on the top of a barren and steep hill, that the Normans built to keep off the invaders with fast horses and sharp swords! And beneath those strong walls, I lay down tracing them back to medieval times; and as the noon grew warmer, I fell asleep drifting into a past ,which made many fret and weep! I wanted to hear tales of bravery, how the knights fought their battles to guard against dire; and their fortress they fiercely defended, until the verdant grass was saturated with blood! Galloping on my agile Arabian horse, with glistening armor and drawn sword...I heard the laments of the wounded, fearless as a voracious lion catching his prey, I entered the battlefield that loudly clanked; and everywhere there were prostate bodies on the morbid ground, and I, in mortal terror, couldn't turn back and not face the enemy! It could have taken a fatal moment for me to have died... not returning to the people I had left behind! As a true knight: I had to honor my pledge, and through pain and ordeal I had to kill to stay alive; when the battle ended, I headed back to the Norman fortress! Awakening from that vision, brazing out fear... I realized how real that could have been; and its brief duration made me much courageous, but somewhat deeply mournful... to have seen so much blood and grief! Copyright 2009 by Andrew Crisci