The Red Horse and Rider

From the depths of the pit

Came an unnatural cry
The confined creature’s desire

 Was for the blood of mankind
It wanted to drink the blood

 Of the men and women of Earth
From the fountain of constant war
When it finally appeared

 The Earth was doomed
To destroy itself with war’s

 Blood and gore

But more frightening even

Than the red steed
Was the wild eyed rider

 Upon its flame colored back
Who wielded the sword

 Dripping with death’s sap
The prelude to his awful task
With the sword held high

 He rode his red horse from the sky

 Down to the Earth below
He cut a wide swath

 From the mountains to the sea
And all who stood as he passed
Went to the grave that day
It mattered not

 Where their allegiance lay
Or who they fought beside
If they were in his path
He made sure they died
For he had been given

 Their bodies to reap
And reap them he did

From the four corners of Earth
Leaving the soil

 Red with their blood
When his reign was o’er

And mankind ravaged by war
The red horse and rider

Returned to the sky
Where the rider

 Laid the sword

At the feet

 Of the Lord
And returned to the pit

From whence he came
His task he had done

He would now wait
For the end of

Mankind on the Earth.

Copyright 2006 Bobbi Duffy