Thirty Days of Man

Thirty dawns. Thirty graves. One bloodline left to save. I learned to guard them as a child, Before the night had learned my name. I stood between their sleep and steel, And took the wound, and hid the pain. Now daylight burns beneath my skin, And midnight answers when I call; Each road that leads me back to them Demands a human piece as toll. The clock is carved in moon and sun. Each hour asks what I'll become. Thirty days to bring them home, Thirty nights to lose my name. I will spend the man I was Like oil poured into flame. Let the hunger mark my bones, Let the dark remake my frame; I would rather lose the man in me Than fail the ones who gave him name. I hear their voices through the rain, The same that called me home when young. The hands I swore no chain would hold Now wait beneath a tyrant's thumb. At noon I bleed for every mile; At midnight blood reveals the road. The beast can find the ones I love, But love still keeps the beast controlled. At every door the bargain stands: Keep my soul - or free their hands. Thirty days to bring them home, Thirty nights to lose my name. I will spend the man I was Like oil poured into flame. Let the hunger mark my bones, Let the dark remake my frame; I would rather lose the man in me Than fail the ones who gave him name. When I was small, I made a vow: No hand would take them while I stood. Now every gift the darkness grants Collects a piece of what was good. Take sleep and mercy. Take my peace. Take every gentle thing I knew. But leave one human spark alive - The part that still remembers you. Thirty days - the last one falls. Thirty nights have fed the change. When they look into my eyes, They may not know the face that came. I will kneel outside their door, Keep my shadow from the light. I became the thing they feared To bring them safely through the night. Thirty dawns. One breath till gone. I carry on.