Requiem for a Villain

By: Raiker Venn

You think I sit in darkened halls while pondering at schemes,
So certain that my only goal’s the theft of hopeful dreams,
You actually believe I’ve never felt a pinch of joy,
At anything except my actions taken to destroy.

You’re thoroughly convinced that devils occupy my frame,
And even newborn fauns will weep to hear my fearful name,
It must be I who is to blame for flood-inducing rain,
When heavens look upon me and cry out with all their pain.

You cannot face the fact that I am more or less like you,
And in my place, I’ve only done the things that you would do,
I love, I laugh, I fast and feast, I dream and ache and cry,
I ponder on the questions how, and what and who and why.

I nod my head when dulcet tones come dancing to my ears,
Like other men, I shiver at the thought of chilling fears,
Sometimes I stare with stark remorse upon my empty hands,
And think on things the common person never understands.

The hubris of the tyrant’s serf is greater than his lord’s,
When fires burn the fields, and flesh is sundered by the swords,
The king is sipping wine and reading books from off his shelf,
And yet the victim thinks the world is focused on himself.

You fear someone is plotting to commend you to the void,
While grasping on to thoughts, irrational and paranoid,
You think you’re my opponent in some twisted, deadly game?
I promise you, I can’t be bothered to recall your name.

You want so badly to believe you could have fought and won,
But I do nothing more than what I realize must be done.
I know of the importance for which your existence yearns,
Yet still the world is larger than your petty, vain concerns.

So call me villain, monster, or whatever name you like,
And ball your fists in anger as you dream to make a strike,
To you, I am the darkness that allows the stars to shine,
But nothing you have done is any vague concern of mine.