A beast

What condemns a poet's piece?
What surrounds that feeble feeling
A golden arm or golden fleece;
Or tragedy that leaves us reeling?

A troubled time, a time so near
And far away from their arrears
A debt is paid, a debt is paid
And strikes as eagles so arrayed

O prey; o pray,
Say not that all will come to ash
For as the dust we all will lay
So too this iron tongue will lash

Dost thou recall the iron smoke,
The terror that surpasses dreams?
A day when every nightmare woke
For hell let loose its fiery streams

A beast arose from sea to sea
A beast that wasn't there before
A beast of death and malady
And never would return once more

A dream that no-one dared to think
A poison no-one dared to drink
A war that not a soldier willed
A void that not a thing could fill