No longer do they shelter stolen jewels,
nor wealth of days long past.
Only ghosts of grandeur can be summoned
with stories while they last.

Haunting memories do linger there in shadows,
cast upon grounds of manor that is no more.
Stonecut stair fallen as a heap of rubble,
not to be climbed by any but the ones of yore.

Voices call from hilltops, "Go forth and strike with might!
Leave nothing for the eye to see
but stars, in the blackened night.

Plunder not from ones within the walls
we strive to destroy with strength,
For within the palace lies emptiness
in all its breadth and length."

Yes, shadows fall 'neath stonework ruins where life once lay,
'neath crumbling walls of days long past, rotted with decay.

ŠNorma Lee Cornett Marek