Mallet

The mallet struck the nascent ore
Imbued with sweat from every pore
His forge he pledged to land and king
With pride and blood his anvil’d sing

He bore the scars of battles won
Of valiant men ‘fore woodness come
Their lust for gore he’d not forget
Nor haunting cries that flactchet met

So imbued his boy through tale and deed
The will to fight as a lust he’d feed
Taught the hammer and warrior skill
For land to build, for king to kill

His son was lost to nameless souls
He’d bellow guilt and stoke the coals
For years he wept the boy was gone
And through the steam he hammered on

The storge ran deep in his family line
And lessons learned he’d now entwine
Sparks flew high for his grandson, lo
Behold swallows, forged in the fiery glow

He hoped the birds would steel the boy’s heart
By stopping carnage before it could start
With prayers to gods he suffused the fire
That wars not burn as his heart’s desire

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