The Hill

I remember when the hill was bare,
That calm rise on the horizon
Upon which the gold of the Sun did spill freely,
And the breath of God
Did tickle each individual blade of grass.
Before the dark times,
Before the time of Man.
From the caves did those creatures emerge,
Demons of the Earth's subconscious.
They were denizens of twilight,
Fearful of the blazing eye of God.
They built a fortress
Against the world,
Against the Creator,
Upon the breast of the hill
Eclipsing the rising sun.
That wretched monument's shadow
Loomed across the plain.
It spread across the land
Creating an Empire of Darkness.
It was a kingdom built upon the bones of the world,
Cemented by the blood of mortals.
Free of God's watchful eye,
Man did create in mockery of their Maker.
Their hands did craft greed, lust, ambition, and pride
Before unleashing their plague upon the innocent fields.
The natural withered beneath the artificial
As culture replaced nature
And the world went pale and sterile
Beneath the concrete.
But that abomination called civilization did fracture,
Each shard piercing deeply
The body of beloved Terra.
Man tortured her,
Man twisted her,
Man polluted her,
Starving her of God's presence,
Turning her away from the Heavens,
And left her broken and corrupted
By the intoxication
Of their vile fluids.
Man dug trenches in the Earth
And fed their brothers into the slits
Before the rain of artillery
Did scatter their senses.
The grass did fade and falter,
Trampled by marching feet
And dissolved leaving cold, gray clay.
Thirsty Earth drank heavily
Of Man's blood.
From the gouged soil
Those sowed souls emerged from the battlefield,
Pale blossoms of mournful beauty.
And then there was nothing left
Save insubstantial memory
Of once blessed possibility.
Expansion led to exhaustion,
The hate that heated Man's drive
Consumed their hearts
Leaving but a fragile shell,
A mockery of virility.
The fortress did fall,
Those battlements now empty,
And God did peek through the cracks
Upon the world once more.
As the darkness receded,
The land emerged from black waters
And that great Empire
Became nothing more
Than a passing shade
Upon that peaceful hill.