The Last Bronze Horizon

At the edge of the dimming field, we gathered without names The sky wore bronze like memory, heavy with what remains We walked where fathers faded, where banners turned to dust No gold to guide the ending, only iron, oath, and trust The ground recalls each footfall, the weight of every line A path drawn out in silence, older than design What comes is not a stranger, it waited in the stone What was is never silent, it follows bone by bone Lift the standard slowly, let the horizon burn All that we have carried is all that will return Do not ask for mercy where none was ever sown The end is not a breaking, but claiming what is known In the quiet after thunder, truth stands without disguise Ash will name the faithful, not the proud or wise Walk into the boundary where earth and sky are one The last light is not ending, but witness of what’s done