When he took out his sword, I knew.

* * *

Mail armor tinkling, shields and swords clanking,

he puts it all away saying,

"No more war. No more hate."

But the world is a thought too late.

The King calls an order,

there was a skirmish at the border.

But before the knights could gather,

it was over, and the room was all a chatter.

A false alarm? There was surely peace now.

But then—and no one knew exactly how—

another order was leased, "Gather brave knights,

we ride to the border just after midnight."

Hearing this it dawned on me, the most dreaded thought,

that it will all end though we'd just tied the knot.

I begged him not to go, not to leave me alone.

But an order's an order, all set in stone.

Mail armor tinkling, shields and swords clanking,

he takes it out saying,

"The last war. The last hate."

But the world was still a thought too late.

He rode out to the gathered knights,

all ready for battle before midnight.

Just at the holler, a charging cue,

he took out his sword...and I knew.

Watching him from our house,

in a plain white blouse,

I could already see,

the bloodstains to be.