A Song for Aramus Galenos

On the night of June the fifth, General Aramus Galenos, age fifty-six, passed away at his son Omanos' home in Lakeshire.

Aramus Galenos, the son of a grand marshal of Lordaeron, dedicated his life and military service to the protection of Stormwind and beyond, serving on the Stormwind Council, training and guiding young hearts and minds in the Disciples of Light, serving as the second-in-command of the First Company of Lordaeron, and fighting in the war against the Scourge in Northrend.

May he walk always in the Light. May he rest in well deserved peace.

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'A Song for Aramus Galenos'

At an hour past midnight, the nightingale whispered,
singing her sleep-songs as you lay a-slumbering
quill in hand; and words strayed through your dreams
and through your heart and your fingers.

Two hours past midnight, eyes running red–
the blood and the torchlight and battered, broken feet.
This is no end, only the beginning:
only the shadow of the beginning, when you ran
with death in your dreams and heart and hands.

Three hours past midnight, oh the river of time
how it pours and boils and bathes your scars.
No quill but your greatsword, no words but the war-cry:
yet still the nightingale in the elm beside your window
whispers of dreams–

a goldenfair lady, with the hands of a healer
and all the strength of steelsheen
entwined herself in your heart, in your blood.
She bore you a child ere the silken veil fell.

Four hours past midnight, oh how mighty, how stern
your sword-arm and your brow.
From the blacktwisted and darkling ruin of the northlands
what a soldier has risen, what a heart of fire.

Five hours past midnight, the nightingale whispers.
Your son streaks the sky like a meteor
and a daughter springs from both spirit and steel.
Oh mighty hands, oh gentle hands –

the universe brightened by the spark at your breast.
Your sword-song is keen
and your words have germinated and grown
after a soft dormancy of the heart.

Oh as you lie a-slumbering
as words stray through your dreams – ‘tis almost dawn.

Absolutely beautiful