Tag Archives: blacksmith

April 27, 2015

The Blacksmith

	The Blacksmith
601	A humble blacksmith lived down south.
	His forge was too his home.
	He was a serf to heat and steel,
	so proved his ashened clothes.
605	The days of hamm’ring steel passed by.
	His thoughts at times distract,
	and though he forged with diligence,
	his mind shifts to his craft.
	He’s dedicated years to arms
610	that only hurt and kill,
	but justice also flows from swords
	to those men rife with guilt.
	And smiths have armor to produce
	which shield those gallant knights,
615	but armor saves some cruel bad men
	who spread distrust and fright.
	So is the blacksmith good or bad?
	And is he wanting fault?
	Are vendors too responsible
620	for deeds of he who bought?
	One day a famous rebel man
	came riding on his horse.
	He galloped to the blacksmith’s house
	and dictated with force:
625	“Make me a thousand breastplates, sir.
	Meld twice as many swords.
	Make spears and arrowheads abound.
	I’m stocking up for war!”
	Smith stared upon that rebel man
630	unable to believe.
	An order such as this would make
	him wealthy like the queen!
	But then a sense of caution crept.
	He asked quite practically:
635	“Why do you need these weapons, lord?
	How will you pay your fee?”
	The lord dissenter answered him:
	“My reasons are my own.
	But know that when I win this war
640	I’ll take my mighty throne.
	I’ll pay you from the treasury.
	The realm will hold no debt.
	But first, produce the weapons, sir.
	You’ll get no money yet .”
645	The smith thought hard and gave response:
	Declined with an head shake.
	The world stood still with lord provoked.
	Had smith made a mistake?
	Dissenter grunted grimly then
650	but did not brandish arms.
	He spurred his warhorse onwards to
	vast endless lands of farms.
	The blacksmith breathed deep with relief,
	reflected on the scene.
655	He just refused an evil man
	and gold he could have gleaned.
	But he’d refuse a good man, too
	in similar event.
	The reason smith denied that man:
660	A credit pays no rent.