The Prisoner

Bound in deepest shadow, where

No light can pierce the veil,

Is chained a weary soldier there,

Once strong and true, now pale.

For countless days, ‘neath crushing dark

This soul has torment borne

And no more can the time now mark

His agony forlorn.

So in his dungeon, doomed he lies,

No hope within his breast;

For cursed he was beneath the skies

The sun with light had blessed.

But hark! what sound of clashing steel

And cries of battle great,

Reach now the bleeding pris’ner’s ear

And grant a glimmer faint

Of hope that long abandoned lay

With dreams and visions old,

Behind the walls of deepest pain

That centuries had forged?

Now sparks to roaring flame a zeal

The soldier had forgot,

And swift begins his heart to heal

As hope does not depart.

Sounds of thunder, flashing light,

The soul within him stirs,

And then is grasped and lifted high

To see again the earth.

For tasks he has yet to fulfill, 

His work has not been done,

And torture ‘neath the dark one’s will

Has now been overcome.