Raymond Aco Gullado and his Ten Thousand Knights

Raymond Aco Gullado and his ten thousand knights
determined to conquer the Holy Land
with nothing more than their pilgrim prayers
or, failing that, with sharpened spears and swords.
Setting out astride a tall black steed with crimson livery,
with his monk’s cowled habit swept back by the wind,
he was an apocalyptic Templar followed by
an army of bishops and friars and priests
all singing the thunderous  Dies Irae.

He led an invasion of the sacred groves of Oberon,
burning the ancient oaks and sacking sacred shrines
in his pursuit of holy relics to guide him on his quest.
He sought the grâl, the fleece, and the stone from space,
the lapis ex coelis forever preserved, like the knuckle bones
of St. Anesthesia who performed numerous miracles
for the poor and the blind, preserved and set in purest Lucite.
With these talismans of power he thought he could win.

But bloodied and battered are the few that have returned
and of Raymond there is no word,