Tempered+by+E+Choi

__ Tempered __

He blazes his trail by the point of a sword And lays down with careful hands a crown of silver Atop a black throne ruled by fists of iron His lips stained with the taste of blood And hands tarnished by the sharp scent of steel In the rain outside he waits for the rust

The passage of time turns the empire to rust A lonely king balancing on the edge of a sword Princes whose hearts have known no steel Whose lives were coveted as rings of silver Now the age favors a soul borne in blood A heart that beats with the hot hiss of iron

His weathered palms holding a blade of cold iron Standing in the raging storm it soon turns to rust From the metal the rain washes away the blood Once again in the darkness gleams a white sword A single radiant light is the flash of silver In the grasp of a man whose heart is steel

The revolution builds a throne of stainless steel Their words tear down the empire of blackened iron And make anew a garland of sterling silver To place on the brow of one impervious to rust And put in hand both shield and sword And end forever more the family of blood

Now reborn is the empire in a bath of blood And rebuilt is the throne on a prince of steel Polished white is the beheading sword Which hacked away those fists of iron And the old things are left out in the rain to rust With the princes whose tongues were honeyed silver

Long gone now is the age of gilded silver And with it went the scions of blue blood A new wind arrives to blow away the rust On the back of dawn is a rising era of steel And people whose hearts pulse with red iron Forgotten now is the throne of broken swords

Here he lets down the sword forged in blood And makes a new empire of silver and tempered steel And leaves behind the iron throne to rust.