Wargaming For Poets

[Brother_Brimstone]

Imperium Of Man

As dawn will rise and evening fall,
I pray for light to now prevail.
My own, true Lord, a sacred Hall,
A golden throne, all men shall hail.
A burning eagle, shining true,
To guide my every deed and thought,
We build our empire now, anew,
With every battle won, well fought.
And though our foes are great in size,
Our soldiers are each great in deed,
Our leaders; strong, true, brave and wise,
Our rulers help to serve our need.
The darkness clings, an evil shroud,
Around the history of our race,
And yet we stand here, right and proud,
With every challenge that we face.
We suffer not a witch to live,
The alien we always purge,
Where others plan to take, we give,
Our twenty lashes with a scourge.
So gather men behind our Lord,
And take your place within His plan,
Together we shall fight the Horde,
As one Imperium of Man.

[Shannow]

Void Dreams


Drifting lights
Float by;
Incandescent.

Tiny sparks of life
With all the people
Milling.

What strange world
Lies below
The glowing halo?

The windows cold
Still heart
But a chilling companion,

In this expansive void
And metallic womb,
From which I grew.

Tired eyes reflect
An empty soul
That follows the creed.

An extra hand
To hold the knife,
And spill the blood.

How wonderful
Those halo lives,
And bright spheres must be.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Light In The Darkness

When all is cold and empty,
When the Ravages tear,
There is a shining golden light
It always guides us home

As the gunmetal walls shake
And we can feel the hate,
As their desires burn darkly
We look to our beacon.

And all is black,
So dark you can feel it,
It reaches inside you
An indomitable evil.

As time stretches out,
Both longer and shorter,
And as the Presence grows excited,
We bow our heads.

We are thrown about,
Like a makeshift boat on the waves
The water lapping is not cool
But smoulders with fury.

The tides do not lull,
They rage and throw and shake,
We must trust our faith
And pray deliverance.

And through all of this,
We give You thanks,
Your loving, warm benevolence,
It wraps us like a blanket.

And within your precious love,
We fear not the Anger,
They cannot penetrate,
The love of a Father.

When all else fails
I send You a prayer
'Protect me O Lord,
Your spirit is on board'

[Shannow]

Emperor's Pearl


An awning chasm
Of the darkness infinite,
Like a black gauntlet
Hand,
The tide of evil
Brings all shadows to bear.

The planets sphere,
But the pearls of a
Necklace,
In the game of the gods.

But we hold.

This is no pearl of
Mere material beauty,
But our land;
Our mother.

Muscle sinews stretch
And scream,
Claret life
Flows rich and deep,

Minds in madness
Snap and break,
And the darkness falls,
the lights go out.

But we hold.

For this is terra!
And not daemon nor gods
Will tear its beauty
From our grasp.

As a light
From thrones edge,
We remain,
And we hold.

Forever we shall hold.

[Herald]

The Big Guns Never Tire

Above the ranks of Imperial Guard,
The big guns never tire,
The men are battered, broken, scarred,
The big guns never tire,
They suffer not from malnutrition
The big guns never tire,
So we must feed them ammunition.
The big guns never tire.

Oil the gears of the great machine
The forge worlds never tire,
We labour on all times unseen,
The forge worlds never tire,
In bursts of bristling binary,
The forge worlds never tire,
Supply the battle's finery.
The forge worlds never tire.

[Shannow]

A Day in the Life of...

Trench seats
Damp fire
Quakes begin
Bastard liar!

Forward Boys!
Booms the Commissar.

Blood splatter
Mud Crater
Joe's arm
Save for later!

Forward Boys!
Booms the Commissar.

Gun raised
Soul dead
Winged beast
Eyes red!

Forward boys!
Booms the Commissar.

Firm resolve
Emperor's will
Lasguns fire
It comes still!

Forward Boys!
Booms the Commissar.

Beast looms
I am dead.
Armoured 4th
Sky of lead.

Stand so weary
and yet alive.
the field around me
Blood churned writhes.

Joe survived
I've got his arm.
Back to trenches
and the fire calm.

......

I hope that Commissars dead....

[Brother_Brimstone]

The Guardsman

When I am gone, what will there be,
To tell the world that I once lived?
My body crushed and turned to dust,
My spirit long gone, elsewhere bound,

When those who knew me too have passed,
Where will my memory reside?
They'll know not of a single deed,
I ever did, or word I said.

When fire rains and worlds have died,
And all remnants of home are lost,
Where will they go to mourn my loss,
Upon the chance they know my name?

If one day white should fade to black,
And curtains draw upon our race.
Let this be known; there was a time,
When unnamed soldiers died for hope.

[Shannow]

Untitled

Huddled below
In the hewn earth,
What difference
From a grave
Is this rotting
Edifice of shelter?

Nought but a
Morgue,
For all the bodies
And pools of blood
It holds, within
Its gaping maw.

Screams of that
Unearthly creature
Called war
Carry in the wind.
The biting flesh
Of the devils own.

No hope yet
So much fear,
Of certain
Sacrifice for
Golden carcass.
What reason?
What rhyme?

Trembling hands
Of discarded manhood
Drop my weapon,
To its own rusted
Mausoleum of dirt.

I stand with
What strength I
Can muster.
If only to embrace death,
And know some end
To fear.

[Shannow]

Diligent Son

What distant sweet
desire do I hold
so close to my heart?

From what deep
memory does
this bitterness well?

A gasping, aching
Cry that longs
To take flight.

To soar unburdened
And ride the frothy heights
Of the nocturnal sky.

To escape the sunken
Eyes of paternal pain
And calmed vigour,

That adds weight
To the dusty grime
Of my earth laden boots.

Is such a life worth
My salted tears
And envenomed bile?

The blood of vindication
And heretic screams
I use to purge;

To stab with fury
At these doubts
And forgotten dreams.

Cold mortuary slabs
Enticing smile
Beckons with impetuous guile;

And were it not for such
Brazen red rose
Clutched to breast,

The heady rest
And deepened soil
Would see me now;

A dream unfurled
As dead eyes
Stare at naked sky.

[Kallidor]

Warrior's Prayer

With the roar of bolters
And the clash of blades
We scream 'For the Emperor!'
And die in His name.

Through traitor, heretic and xenos scum
We tear with our chainswords
And kill 'till we're done.

We wade knee deep in blood
We ignore all the pain
The enemy think they can best us
But they battle in vain.

The Emperor is our master
His will be done
We will never stop, never surrender
Not 'till the wars are all won.

[Mohauk]

Parchments For Sanctified Documentation and Purgation
<St Thor's-Day Morn>

It came quite quick, you see, my lad,
That bright St Thor's-Day morn.
All of a sudden, all of a scamper,
To send us back whence we were born.

O'course, the Commissar had stripped
Us of our votive-flags.
And poor old Bhan got ten-and-five
For liberatin' those three bags!

But he was laughin', in the end,
Cause that fragger Hark went first:
Down the gullet of the beast
To slake its raging thirst.

The primer called them 'man-size snakes'
O'course, and that were true,
If snakes could swallow three men whole
With fangs to run you through,

And burrowed through the rock like milk,
And spat out boiling mists,
And stabbed with a thousand needle arms,
And killed with every kiss.

But I had the last laugh of all,
Cause I escaped the worst:
I put my snub-las in my mouth
And Goddamn got there first!

[Mohauk]

General Prayer for Preparation before Ignition


Oil the sacred hinges and joints
Thrice.
Oil them for they are the synapses of the spirit.
Oil them for they unite the parts of the machine as one.
Oil them Thrice:
This will appease the spirit.

Check the hallowed rivets hold true
Twice.
Check them for they are the tendons of the spirit.
Check them for they bind the machine together strongly.
Check them Twice:
This will appease the spirit.

Sanctify the interfaces and runes with blessed ointment
With Due Care and Diligence.
Sanctify them for they are the reigns by which the spirit will be ridden.
Sanctify them for they allow your intelligence to guide the machine.
Sanctify them with Due Care and Diligence:
This will appease the spirit.

Make sure the weapons of righteousness are neither jammed nor obstructed
Thrice.
Make sure, for they are the teeth and claws of the spirit.
Make sure, for they will bring down the wrath of the Omnissiah against His enemies.
Make sure of this Thrice:
This will appease the spirit.

Finally, test the strength of the divine armour plates
Just Once.
Test them for they are the iron skin of the spirit.
Test them for they will protect the machine from the darts of the infidels.
Test them just Once:
This will appease the spirit.

Oil the sacred hinges and joints
Thrice.
Check the hallowed rivets hold true
Twice.
Sanctify the interfaces and runes with blessed ointment
With Due Care and Diligence.
Make sure the weapons of righteousness are neither jammed nor obstructed
Thrice.
Test the strength of the divine armour plates
Just Once.
For they are the body of the spirit.
For they are the machine, the bodily incarnation of the Omnissiah.
And this will appease the spirit,
Which is now ready for Ignition.

[Brother_Brimstone]

The Soldier's Son

My son's eyes, blue, just like my own,
A shining azure sea.
Filled with such hope and love and trust,
Promise all he could be

And all of this I know,
Will one day be snatched from my hands.
The day he gets his boots and gun,
His markings, cattle's brands.

I mourn not for the loss of all,
My life and hope and dreams.
It is too late, and gladly,
I would give them just for he.

I mourn not for the leg I lost,
The scars across my skin,
I'm not a saint, and I accept
I must pay for my sin

But must this evil I have done
Be passed on to him too?
My one begotten, only son
Paying his father's due!

The Emperor I have begged and begged,
I've fallen to my knees,
I've wept and wept most bitterly,
Worked only to appease

It breaks my heart to know that he,
Will follow in my tracks,
Something I'd wish upon no foe,
Bore on my baby's back

And on the night He took my wife,
I questioned not His will,
She begged of me 'Protect our child'
And then she lay down still.

You took my wife! You took my leg!
Can that not be enough?
Why must you take my son as well?
He's all i've left to love!

Remeber this all you who charge
Most gladly into war
That every soldier killed is someone's baby,
Nothing more

[Shannow]

Betrayal

All bleached bones
Dry as dust,
Through cluttered streets,
And shattered dusk.

Such grey ruins
That looms above,
With golden dreams,
And hollow love.

Towered spires
Of broken grief.
Embittered hearts,
Through lonely streets.

Ghosts we wander
In worlds abound,
For Emperor's love,
We have not found.

[Shannow]

Planet Fall

Twilight fires
From silent bombs,
Illuminate the
Distant horizon.

Pearlescent swirls
Of hazy purple,
And vivid orange,
Permeate my mind.

We drop from heaven,
Like the tears of
A disappointed god,
With bitter fury.

Still in silence,
The rainbow clouds
Fly past my harrowed eyes
And crimson hands.

The deafening thud
brings noise at last,
To herald death
and pain for all.