Blood of Kings

By JB Brown

A reflection on life, The Blood of Kings describes in raw emotion and evocative language all aspects of what it is to be a man, a poet, a soldier, a friend. This poetry, with a dark edge, covers the loss of love, death, religion, friendship, war and a philosophical outlook on what they all really mean. Not always easy reading, but with depth and passion, JB Brown describes a passage of rights where the juxtaposition of life, its highs and its accompanying pain are only too real.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tommies Guides
• Release date: Nov 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781908487223

Book preview

THE BLOOD OF KINGS

An Anthology

JB Brown

FireStep Press an imprint of

FireStep Publishing

Gemini House

136–140 Old Shoreham Road

Brighton

BN3 7BD

www.firesteppublishing.com

First published in Great Britain by

FireStep Publishing, 2012

© JB Brown, 2012

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Cover by Ryan Gearing

2012 digital version by Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

Dedication

To those who serve and those who have served with honour.

There are none better.

Instead, I sometimes recall a passage from the Book of Psalms. I have no theological insight, my religious ethos is a battered one; but those lines seem to suggest an answer my reason cannot, namely that the innocent that suffer for the rest of us become anointed and loved by God in special way; the votive candle of their lives has made them heaven’s prisoners.

James Lee Burke, Heaven’s Prisoners

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.

Ambrose Bierce

Acknowledgements

My grandfather who started it all.

My wife, Angálica, who kept me on the straight and narrow.

My friends who encouraged me.

A gifted teacher when I was fifteen.

The women who loved me and those who broke my heart.

Ryan Gearing, who had the faith to see this through.

Soldiers, dead and alive; my friends, my calling.

Prologue

The Blood of Kings

Remember the halcyon days?

There was drinking of

The