A Book I Should Not Read

All armies bear their losses
Yet still they rally on
The fanfare may be muted
The spirit may be gone

And Troy was devastated
By an accident of greed
I knew that you were taken
A book I should not read

But the sun danced in your shadow
Like the mocking of a bird
And I was dragged down to your depth
And I clung to every word

You're a statue in my past
You are stone upon the grass
Byzantine and cold
But never getting old

And the clouds pass over Europe
As the night, it battens down
I am drinking in the backroom
Of a bar of some renown

And I'm thinking how I lost you
How I let go of your hand
Your last words wore a sadness
You were drowned out by the band