Analysis of Returns to Render

That mighty saber slices wind
Double-edged, it cuts both ways
Tempered in the flames of souls
In fiery spoken word does bathe
From olive leaf, fashion a wreath
For noble deeds, a lofty crown
Leave remnants of your enemies
Ravaged by jackals on the ground

Dictate decrees of the mighty
Rent wretched on a conquered sod
Wash our hands of the bloody mess
What Caesar renders unto God
Indulge the cup of human blood
Trade fatted calves for topsoil stew
Topsoil turned by fatted worms
Indulging in the residue

So lend me now your ears, my friend
If you've any left to lend
This mortal-wounded victim's day
Is bleeding to its end
I'll softly sing for you a song
If I can find a voice to raise
With this sword, I thee do pierce
I come to bury, not to praise

Sword of the mighty spoken Word
Cuts both ways, bone and sinew
To dying Caesars have you rendered
Your creditor now comes for you
And who will give account for you?
Whose double cross is that you carry?
You came not to render praise
You only came to bury

From high upon that mountaintop
Fashioned from skulls of all the least
To the spoils go the victors
The ashes of a glutton's feast
Come join me in my lowly place
If you can hear my voice at all
Above the howling of the mobs
And watch the mighty fall

So lend me now your ears, my friend
If you've any left to lend
This mortal-wounded victim's day
Is bleeding to its end
I'll softly sing for you a song
If I can find a voice to raise
With this sword, I thee do pierce
I come to bury, not to praise

© John Kennan 10-27-20