{"sf1_id":1226365,"sf2_id":"Rm0RZaR1","title":"The Torch is Lit","author":"zetasyanthis","words":171,"posted_at":"2017-08-14T00:55:00.000Z","tags":["Fire","Poem","defense"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1226365-the-torch-is-lit","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/Rm0RZaR1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/e7/42/e742b8fe-fcb7-4a2f-a989-c1096f19a3ce","description":"#14 of Poems","content":"The torch is lit  \nthe gauntlet thrown  \nthe steel glints in darkness  \nand now it comes to us at last  \nto defend 'gainst this harshness.  \n  \nThe trumpet blasts,  \nthe arrows fall,  \nbut we will not be shaken  \nfor within us dragons' blood flows,  \n\"These lives will not be taken.\"  \n  \nSo listen now ye sheltered folk,  \nye trembling in darkness,  \nand listen now yet hearts gone cold,  \nye broken, and ye heartless.  \n  \nWe'll not become that which we fight,  \nbut fight we ever shall,  \nfor each kind heart,  \nour cherished art,  \nand freedom's shining sail.  \n  \nYou would not do  \nto judge to quick  \nthose who now stand to face you.  \nWe are not those you ought to fear;  \nin love, we will embrace you.  \n  \nWe seek your hearts  \nto join with ours  \nto build a better world  \na kinder, gentler, novel place,  \nwhere fear's banners stay furled.  \n  \nIt won't be quick;  \nit won't be light,  \nthis burden we now don,  \nbut we accept and raise our lights  \nto watch until the dawn.  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Poems","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1226361-does-it-really-matter.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1226367-shimmerspark.json"}}