Kratos, God Of War

Brave Kratos stood above the raging sea,
in the night as storm clouds cracked and groaned,
poised to fall and softly cried “the gods
of Olympus have abandoned me,”
then forthright threw himself beyond the cliff
into the dark and violent sea below
to find the peace that only death could bring.
But the immortals high up in Olympus
had decreed that it was not his fate
and so Athena came down from the heavens
with godspeed to arrest the Spartan’s fall
and bring him back to the great golden halls.
She said to him, “you will not die today.
Nor shall you die at all or perish ever
not since you slew my brother, evil Ares.
The gods do not forget the burning deeds
of Kratos who possessed the Blades of Chaos,
nor his fateful quest to kill a god.
The songs and lays of Kratos shall forever
ring and echo through the halls of time.
The gods do not forget the fallen Hydra
nor famed Medusa with her wild hair,
the Minotaurs that crashed the walls of Athens
where the Oracle was lost in seeing,
when taller than the city Ares stood
his yellow mane companion to the clouds
of smoke above the burning city that
did echo with the clang and crash of war.
They shall not forget the desert Sirens,
nor the Titans of which Cronos is the last
bound by manwide chain links in the desert
where the hot winds bite and sting forever,
nor Pandora’s Box whose seal was broken.
Long shall great historians remember
your evil pact with Ares, God of War,
the mighty chains he grafted to your skin
with blades that wander but can not be lost,
how your skin was painted by the ashes
of your wife and daughter that you murdered
when Ares tricked you. Thus the song is told
of how you died and yet refused to die,
of your brave journey and of your escape
from Hades, how you climbed the tree of pain.
The gods do not forget the song of Kratos
nor do they forget the death of Ares
and thus decree that you shall take his place.”
So it was that Kratos took his mansion
above the sea where he had sought to die.
Now Kratos wore the title God of War
and as Athena gazed the Ghost of Sparta
took his seat on that immortal throne.


     - 2006, 2007 or so...