On the eve of war,

as the ash storms entwined

and their lights outshone

our withdrawing star,

I took my siblings

to head for the forest

and the silvery shores

of Alvanaar.

There waited the waters,

the glistening spray,

of falls that seemed like

they'd been here forever,

withstanding the centuries,

embracing the memories

that tell of a time

when life here was better.

With clammy fingers

we'd clutched our hands

that trembled like earthquakes

in fury and fright,

And nothing would end this,

our fear of tomorrow,

not even this truly

beautiful sight,

For all that I saw

and all I could feel,

were ice in the air

and the shore and the lake,

as if all the world

had died in the silence

tomorrow's war

would hold in its wake,

As if all the joy

the hope and the dreams

that this place once held

were simply no more

as if it had known

the outcome of all

already that day

on the eve of war