Aeternum (A Response To Invictus) Poem by James McLain

Beneath the stars' unyielding light,
I tread the path, my waking dream.
Through tempests fierce, through ether mist,
Her echo whispers: 'This too shall pass.'

Not heaven's wrath nor fortune's past
Can quinch the fire within my breast.
Though wounds may carve their lasting art,
They trace the map of my red heart.

My chains are forged of night and day,
And time will grind the year's away.
No tyrant's will, no whispered lie
Can dim the blaze from which I came.

The night persists; its weight I bear,
Yet morning blooms within my sphere.
For I, eternal, shall endure—
A soul unbroken, fierce, and pure.