And now the watch has ended
Many played the game for the throne
King this Queen that One by one they fell The throne many fought over, lusted after and died for
Now flows through the halls like melted wax
The wheel has been broken
Things are no longer the same
If you thought The Game would have a fairy tale ending
You were not paying attention
The Game took eight long years to play
Five books and more yet to come
A tale about long ago and far away
Yet a story for today and beyond
Years pass, humanity learns very little
Ten thousand, five thousand, two thousand or even two years
Time means nothing to the sun, moon and stars
Mere mortals never fully grasp their place in the universe
So in their folly they play God and even become God
When winter comes bringing death and despair
Testing the strong and devouring the weak
After the fires have burned and the ashes have covered the land
Lords and peasants alike count the cost and lessons learnt
The wise might ask, ‘What do we know? What don’t we know’?
Let the children be told
Alas, there is no divine right to rule
Only a sacred call to service
Our word should be our bond
We can be born to riches but honour is earned
Every teacher has a message
Every student has a mission
The bastard of today
Might be the King of tomorrow
The ugly dwarf we have been taught to despise
Might be the one blessed with the most wisdom in the land
The breaker of chains and the saviour of children
Is also the merciless tyrant who burns the helpless and defenceless to a crisp
The orphaned girls who were tortured, raped and beaten
Rose to reign as Queens
The least of us might one day become the greatest of us
The heavens have a way of healing broken bodies, minds and spirits
The strong can only prey on the weak for a season
One day the forgottenand invisible will find a voice and a reason
Terror, tyranny, plague, oppression
Love, betrayal, loyalty, passion all rule the hearts of men and women
From one eternity to the next, the wheel keeps spinning
If you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die
Those who played lost and those who were not in the game at all won
The wheel has been broken, it is a new world now
We all yearn for when men and women will rule the land on merit
With courage, devotion and sacrifice
Then the age of entitlement will be over – we pray
If all lessons have fallen on deaf ears, please, remember this:
Valar Morghulis
All men must die
Valar Dohaeris
All men must serve
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She is currently the 1st Lady of Ekiti State. She can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com
