Ten of Spades

Ten of Spades

In ancient Albion,
the giant knew five women
And each gave him a daughter
As offerings
for the new works of sin
Still, the gods demanded
true blood
Of sacrifice and slaughter

This Adversary
then came undone
Condemning his beauties
then himself, all to hell
For lack of the courage in one
He wept and wrote down
fifty-two spells

Cowards will have their
schemes to be spun
Scooping up from the pit
where they fell
Ways to rise up, each one
Away from the toll,
of the old,
dutiful knell

With his book
The Adversary
came to command a legion
But he waited it out,
two hundred score
He stayed in the
mountainous region
Then two imps came
with an idea to break open
The seal of hell’s burning, door
They said:
Give us the spear
of the soldier of legion
The one whose Spade
In life’s side has torn

He told them:
Read these words
most descript
Fetch my maidens
regained from their toil
My five beauties
now out from the crypt
Will lay down
with the soldier whose feet
Are swathed
in Golgotha’s soil

The seed of doubt was planted
As to the truth in
dire prophecy’s moil
The spear
was easily captured
Five seducers round one
soldier coiled

The Adversary instructed
the imps:
Bury it here up high,
and the burnt tree will then grow
Soon enough four kings,
will be on this plant reliant

Coming from
their four corners
For the book
of our souls down below

The roots of hell
can bear fruit
When kings give over
what they must hath
By each picking a leaf from its shoot
Impenetrable seal,
will then be rendered
in half

To taste is to tempt
To feel is to hold
Each side,
a great sacrifice will send
To hang on,
to the dead tree of old