Annals of Archery

1

Born with a head and hair of flint,

from a mother of curving wood and sinew,

this early weapon was a bringer of food

before becoming a tool more sinister.

2

The thunder of chariots upon the earth

kicks up the dust like a storm in the desert.

Missiles fly twanging from point to point,

filling the air with the sounds of death.

3

Homer’s great tale describes this tool

as the bringer of death to the unbeatable warrior.

Flying true from the royal bow,

it hits the one small spot untouched and mortal.

4

The world’s highest peaks border the north

of this vast, great land of rivers and gods.

War elephants change through the dense, green growth,

arrows’ songs cutting through the noise-flooded air.

5

With chain mail glinting in the icy white sun,

these fierce pagan warriors loose their iron rain.

They have scattered enemies to the west, east, and south

by playing their music on these lethal instruments.

6

They came by the hoard from the sandy ocean,

their words spreading faster than new flames during drought.

Surrounding their foes with the very symbol of their faith,

they unleash their missiles as the final gap closes.

7

A time of transition from rural to urban,

the implements of war adjusted as well.

Now mounted across a beam with a trigger,

it unleashes a simpler yet deadlier strike.

8

From the sea of the east to the lands of the west,

these most skilled equestrians conquered the world.

With hard-hitting projectiles launched fast and true,

they surrounded and shot until none were left standing.

9

Garbed in bright feathers and the skins of great beasts,

they descend in vast numbers from their great floating city.

Their arrows are honed to precision unmatched,

the black stone sharpened beyond steel or bronze.   

10

A weapon both familiar and different at once,

it may seem unwieldy to the untrained eye.

Used from the ground or atop a great mount,

it strikes a bold path against the great rising sun.

11

A range of nations as diverse as any;

from seaside coves of the great northwest, to humid tropics down south and east.

In the verdant woodlands and ‘cross the Great Plains,

the bow can determine both life and death.

12

For many millennia it could not be matched.

The most basic principles had the most lethal kill.

Yet even so, it could not last forever,

and was ultimately replaced with a bang and a boom.

13

The bow’s great heyday may be no more,

but in several small pockets it is lively as ever.

From the smallest back garden to the greatest arena,

this tool’s great legacy lives on today.