The Siege
by Steven Argyle, 1976
Your wall stood quite
Formidable as I
Eyed it in the
Dawn,
With buttresses
And bulwarks built of
Ancient stone, and
Strong.
I faced it ‘cross
The dewy fields with
Burnished steel in
Hand,
Backed by halberds,
Pikes, and axes of
My battle-calloused
Band.
The war-pipes were
Impatient and the
Drums were snarling
Low.
The bowstrings of
My archers sang, there,
Waiting in a
Row.
I held the field
Unflinchingly in
Challenge to your
Tower
With my vassals
Confidently sure
Of victory in an
Hour.
The battle flags
And banners cracking
Loudly in the
Breeze
Reminded me
That warrior craft is
Not a life of
Ease.
I pondered for
A moment what lay
Hid behind your
Wall
And wondered if
The prize within would
Perish in the
Fall.
What would you do,
Beloved, if your
Wall came crashing
Down?
Would you tumble
In the murky moat,
Self-pitying, and
Drown?
I do not think
That I shall use my
Catapults and
Rams
And have to face
You in the end with
Hot and bloodied
Hands.
Instead, perhaps,
I’ll undermine your
Brooding wall of
Pride,
And not, as you
Expected me, to
Come assault the
Side.
It happens that,
Occasionally, the
Simple tools of
Love
Can burrow ‘neath
High walls instead of
Warring up
Above.
And so, my friend,
This hour I will
Take the patient
Way
And put aside
The use of force to
Try decide the
Day.
The Master taught
That those who fight will
Perish by the
Sword.
And thus I’ll love
You, Precious One, and
Conquer with a
Word.
[Steve notes, "I wrote this poem at a train station in Tainan, on June 21, 1976. It was inspired by two things. The first was the transfer of a missionary companion with whom I had struggled to get along. The second was an article I had read two or three years earlier. The article, which described various dysfunctions in interpersonal communication, was accompanied by an illustration that stuck in my mind. The image depicted several large human heads, surrounded up to their lower eyelids by stout, castle-like walls, scattered across a bleak and barren plain.
I’ve found, in the intervening years, that I had written good advice for myself in my roles as husband and father."]