Castle of Desolation

By Rachel Witan

What is it like to be alone?

A king sitting in a castle on a throne

No one around for him to lead

No father, no mother, no wife, no seed

All of his weary calls

Just ring down the empty halls

No one to offer temptation

As he wanders the Castle of Desolation.

When he roams outside he sees others talking

Laughing, loving, smiling, walking -

A king without a people to rule

Is like a carpenter without his best tool.

He searches for a queen, a woman to bring him comfort in the night

But when all of the woman are brought into his sight -

He finds none that bring him joy

They've all been taught to treat him like a toy.

He is left solitary, no woman to offer consolation

As he quietly wanders the Castle of Desolation.

This king is without squires and knights

He is alone in every battle that he fights.

He draws his sword, enemies' blood to spill

But there is no one around for him to kill.

The king's battle is within himself

So he lays his armor on the bottom shelf.

And as he lets his mind go, it begins its molestation

Of him wandering around the Castle of Desolation.

Company is all this king has come to seek

He is tired and weary, not strong - but weak.

No one on his ship to whom he can give a course

No one in his stable to help him saddle his horse.

Alone is the only way he drinks -

Empty - is the heart inside that sinks.

His soul is full of devastation

As he wanders the Castle of Desolation.

He drops to his knees and stares at a cloud

He raises his voice and begins yelling aloud,

"What is life, if I am to live it alone?

What is a king with a broken throne?

And all of the gold of this sacred crown

Has only served to bring me down.

Gladly would I give up riches and treasure,

Just to have a woman - just to have pleasure."

But his prayers only bring him frustration -

So he continues to wander the Castle of Desolation.

The vacant king begins to discourage,

He has lost all will, lost all courage.

He has become broken, naked, and lost                            

Love is too expensive - too large a cost

But free is the bill of emptiness,

Blank is the check of loneliness.

So this king dies, an old man, not a dad

With no children to cry, no wife to be sad.

He has no son, no second generation,

And no man will long for his life's imitation.

There is no one left to even give a manifestation

Of the forsaken king and the Castle of Desolation.