Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

 

I. PESTILENCE
The sickness spreads through a den of thieves
The ace of spades are up their sleeves
A child cries and its tears cause a flood
The rivers run red in a course of blood
Pestilence laughs on top a mighty hill
Calling his minions to do his will
A dark clad horse with patience stands
Pestilence calls them in his hands
He crushes their life with this disease
Watching the people trying to flee
Engulfed in flame like horrid pain
Fighting back, but all in vain
Symptoms full of screams and cries
Pestilence smiles and to his people lies
They cough up blood with boils and sores
His people cry for a remedy and a cure
Pestilence scours and pulls them back
They fly into the darkness, swallowed by the black

II. FAMINE
Death by starvation o'er all the earth
An evil presence from a virgin birth
A sacrifice of food and souls
Forbidden fruit of silver and gold
Tasting of the bread of life
Famine grips his bloody knife
A cross to bear, his people fall
Fading fast, a screeching call
Drowning in the sea of flesh
Famine laughs with bitterness
Amid the angst and starving fears
A widow wearied by the years
No food to eat nor wine to drink
No satisfying dreams to think
A jester dies from poisoned food
A forked tongue of the wicked brood
They loot and plunder and ne'er cease
Famine is the cause of their release

III. WAR
War comes riding in on clouds
With all the fire Hell would allow
Children scream through mindless death
Mother's cry with every breath
Soldiers bravely fight the fold
Never question what we're told
War sits high on a blood red steed
And for hatred, plants the seed
His people soon are off to fight
Brothers kill till morning's light
An evil laughter splits the air
War steps unto the battlefield there
Conducting destruction with fiery hand
Villages burn across the land
War rains down upon us well
The world is now a living Hell
No one left to stand and fight
War does not determine right

IV. DEATH
A scorched black sky on winter's night
I peer into the darkness, take hold of the light
Death stares at the world, the leader of the horsemen
Pestilence, Famine, and War dance behind him
A winged creature stalks the skies
You bleed to know that you're alive
Death takes everything away
Burning embers of a forgotten day
Death smiles upon the survivors of War
Famine's scraps wash up on shore
Women and children with horrid screams
Twisted forever by the hatred he reams.
Dead is smiling at the scene
Rivers run with kerosene
No one comes, no one is saved
Death brings the people to their graves
No one is left, the world is gone
No one is right, everyone's wrong

 

Author's Note

The Four Horsemen are from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible. They are the four who will come at the end of the world.

Pestilence is another name for disease.

Reviews

[.mate.feed.kill.repeat.]

WOW. This was really impressive. I like the four-part style; one for each Horseman. Reading your author's note reminded me of how much I really need to get reading the Revelation. The rhythm in this piece was reliable and easy to read. I like the two-line rhyming style that you held throughout the whole piece--once again, impressive.

I really liked how the the final part changed the point of view. I really liked how you turned yourself into Death and I was your victim, but I think it only works for the fourth part. I don't think it would've worked in any of the other parts.

A few things that I would like to point out:
1. There seems to be a formatting error between parts II and III. I would check that out. (Sorry. I don't know off the top of my head how to fix it. Try the FAQs menu.)
2. Line four of part III ("Mother's cry with every breath") doesn't fit well into this piece. I think that if you nixed the apostrophe in "mother's," it would work better, especially with the next line ("Soldiers bravely fight the fold").

Overall, this was a very nicely done piece. Great work.