Six Dared

Just four bright pistols between six men;
more copious was their uncertainty—
    Shared unselfishly
    and equally rationed.
Flint-hammers poised like coiled serpents:
    black-powder venom, a fiery bite.
Mutiny. Treason. The fearéd idea
danced with peril behind stern brows.

The uneasy journeymen feared their master:
He was not their decorated captain,
    clean-favored, imperial, dedicated, proud.
Nor was he the turncoat leader
that stood crookedly before them
    with deft eyes and restless fingers—
No, he was Ambition,
the bastard-child of Avarice
who could coerce and deceive heart and sword both
    to betray benevolence
    in exchange for the conceited grin,
                the hungry ring,
                the certain sin
of gold.

Back