THE CASTLE
Every day, the young boy awoke and stared
At the castle on the horizon
He would watch as the sun arose behind it
And slowly lit up the old gray stones
He would dream of traveling
To the castle on the horizon
He would watch as midday passed
And the birds flew around the parapets
He would think of all the majesty
In the castle on the horizon
He would gaze with the sun low behind him
At the crumbling stones of the walls
And wonder how that ever happened
To the castle on the horizon
He would study the towers’ decay
And wonder how long they’d been there
How long had it been since there was life
How long had it been since men guarded the gates
How long since a king sat in the throne
Of the castle on the horizon
He did this day after day, year after year
Until at last his youth left him
And he was faced with a choice
He could sit and stare and die alone
Or he could walk and hope and die alone
He could try with all of the fading life inside of him
To reach the castle on the horizon
He could stalk the walls
He could guard the gates
He could climb the towers
He could claim the throne
He could be the king
Of the castle on the horizon
So he started walking as an old man
He walked for one year and his beard reached his neck
But the castle did not grow larger in the distance
So he walked for ten more years and his beard reached his chest
But the castle did not grow larger in the distance
So he walked for twenty more years and his beard reached his knees
But the castle did not grow larger in the distance
So he walked for thirty more years and his beard reached his feet
But the castle did not grow larger in the distance.
Then one day, he tripped and became hurt so that he could not walk
From that day on crawled
Towards the castle on the horizon
At last his body gave and he was forced to stop
He stayed in that spot, never taking his eyes off
Of the castle on the horizon
His body decayed over time
His bones turned to dust and scattered
Far, far away
From the castle on the horizon
Then one day, a strong and powerful wind blew from the east
It took many many years for this wind to reach the dust of the old man’s decayed body
But it did and it picked it up and carried it for one thousand years
All the way to the castle on the horizon
The wind finally died down
when it reached the throne room
Of the castle on the horizon
It crawled into the massive forgotten court
Moving countless centuries of ancient dust
Dropping the old man’s final remains
Right on the seat of the throne
where he would be king forever
Of the castle around him
