XVI

"Awful dark in there.  Do we go in?" spoken through tight
clenched leer.  A challenge that I had no choice but meet.

We stopped at the top of a sharp ravine, steeply inclined.  Dark,
among the trees I cd see only his stance & stare, teeth & eyes.

He told again of the pain of betrayal, the hate of a heart torn,
how he had tapped a vein of evil deep within, & the lure it held.

He talked of stalking alleyways waiting for attack to come.
He desired the spilling of blood, uncaring if it was his or another's.

His was a sword that needed healing & left none behind,
forged on the anvil of cold anger in the twisting of his viscera.

He staged a test at the precipice, a confrontation of wills.
Casting friend as adversary, in a potential show of skill.

He questioned whether he cd come to the edge
of murder & back down, whether I wd stand in trust.

whether our courage, our faith was equal
to the blood bond of brotherhood between us

It was.  But only just.  I stood & would not back down to bloodlust.
For every thrust of his contention I parried with acceptance.

Hands were clasped in reaffirmation that not all is subject
to change.  Tested & found strong, our friendship remained.