Pride

Once, Lo and Behold
I rose from the dust
To rule worlds of gold
For I felt that I must

By an invisible force
Of which cities've been shed
For which man cries hoarse
And which kings have bled.

By which men are exalted
All glory for life
A gift never assaulted
I'd be fool to think twice

With unspoken devotion
I had ruled from afar
My exclusive promotion
I did not want to mar

Pride was my sustenance
A banquet without mince
Assumed death was slowed hence
Only fit for a prince

But never enough laud
Ended up causing me aches
I - my own god
Was still destined for breaks

As that limit designed
To what I thought that I was
Just proved myself confined
To illusory applause

For I had come to be resigned
By I - my own lord
To what I thought had defined
My value as could afford

But sealed from outside
My ends became means
Limited guides
And useless machines

For with what was inside
I had not long beheld
Until I was dried
Of my life source withheld

So with ponderous pains
I - while my own lord -
Was weighted in chains
And baffled and floored

With pride concealed lie
From humility forgotten
What did victory buy
From that the begotten?

Wielded in mirth
Yet noble in steed
Ceased only to dearth
And 'came tyrant in deed

For whom begs 'all applaud!'
Is a slave at the mill
The man I made god
Is a slave to his will.

​-Copyright by Marina Baldwin