Spiral

There once was a marble tower,
in the misted heart of a lake,
and the tower was built by a wizard-king
for a dying wizard to make

and the tower by hand and a magic command,
was built as a fort, as a palace and court,
for a wizard-king of the land.

The wizard was ever-living
for his soul was locked away,
at the top of his lair in a music-box there,
safe from the light of the day and the night,
at the top of a spiral stair.

The tower inside was a magical place,
with fields, and wide oceans and rooms ever-vast,
and divided by floors and etched copper doors
that sliced up the future and past.

And sentinels sat on the crude spiral steps
to guard and protect every tier

And the doors at the base of the tower were shut
and locked with a magical seal
until one day, from far away
a simple rider, lost, astray
stumbled alone on the great gates of stone
and the magical seal gave way.

© Mark Sheeky. Permission is required for reproduction.