For The Watchman

by Jack Roe

Weary the Watchman waits, but never

Ceases to scan the sky. His eyes

Are keen as kestrels, sharp as shale

And just as grey-blue. Blown clouds

Are his friends, scudding by the doorway

Where scans his darting glance. No danger

Shall get by, nor fool find his feet bold

On Bifrost’s bridge. Only the bravest souls,

Saluted in by Odin’s will, his swelling ranks

Rowdy with their skyward-lifted spears.

Up here, the air is thin as thought, and cold

The keep at rainbow’s ridge. Why stay?

For father’s love, for stepmother’s smile,

For family and friends, but truth told,

It is more than that. He guards the gate

Because it must be done, because it has

Become what he does, and who would he be

If he did other? For he has learned life’s lesson

In this matter: rewards lie not in the voices

Of others, but in knowing one’s own might,

And that the mission be done, because one can.

And that is all, and all enough to hold him here,

Silhouetted stark against the blue, the brass

Glint of the great horn in the hall behind.

Repayment solely in the strength you find.

Artwork by Charmanderlain.