In The Land To The West [Full, Unfinished Ballad]

In The Land To The West

In the land to the west of the civilised world,
Two knights bravely rode,
Across desert land and sea,
Into the land where no-one went,
To find what really happened there,
All those years ago,
What happened to the cities great,
The towns and kingdoms that should have been.

Yet what they saw was not the door,
To Kingdoms new and cities old,
Instead there were just ruins,
Of a people been and gone,
For in there place was utter fear,
As from the darkness strong did leer,
Terror Incarnate.
The living dead, the rotting corpse,
Of peasants from these cities old,
Had risen from their graves.

The nights they did not hesitate,
But alas it was too late,
And before the day was over they had joined the ranks,
Of the armies of the living dead,
Not to live or eat, But instead,
To be driven by an unseen hunger,
To Kill that which had not fled,
To leave this small earth devoid of life,
With rivers running red. . . . .

In the land to the west of the civilised world,
Again there trod two men,
In armour, weapons and fearsome steeds,
To explore that land again,
What happened to the long lost knights,
And cities old and new.
To find the truth of forgotten tales,
And sky of utter blue.

Fast towards the unknown land,
Across the barren empty sand,
With nothing but a horse for comfort,
Nothing else, there was no more,
'Til finally at last they saw,
The ruins of a building, alone just standing there.
And so unknowingly they then walked,
Into his foul lair.

An evil smile, a grin almost,
Did emanate from past his ghost,
Remembering his own misfortune, and very same demise,
As one by one they filtered in beneath his watchful eyes,
Then with no sound, against the ground,
The two men fell to rest,
And again he returned to sleep, upon his lonely crest. . .

Far to the west of the civilised world,
With ages been and gone,
Something old awoke at last,
from slumber cold and long.
An arcane mind, an ancient being,
A ceature filled with evil seeing,
Rose up from his tomb.

Evil words and many died,
As he smote the air from side to side,
And used the dead to serve his ends,
To form an evil host.
Then all as one, they began to move,
Towards the west they went,
And as one by one they kingdoms fell,
As all their might was spent.

Alarm bells rung and walls were armed,
For at the sight the kings were charmed,
In lands afar, a message sent,
That all defences failed.
So out of the gloom did ride a man,
His skin as set and pale...
He parleyed with this massive threat,
To strike a deal or as near would get.

But unfounded were the good mans foe,
A force not knowing right,
And when at last to the shores they came,
A hard and bitter fight.

To fight ones own, an army dead,
All who knew them once, they said,
Were never to be reconciled,
From that which they became,
To rise from peaceful slumber,
To stalk the earth again.

In the land to the west of the civilised world,
A kingdom lost to time,
No flags are raised to be unfurled,
No courtiers left to mime,
All thats left of life is death,
And all those wating there,
Are shadows of a time long gone,
No grass just bones, and air...