Sleep though this

[Mark Cecil]

Keys jangle at the precipice of fate
Instinctive virtues endeavour to raise their heads
The gloamings mist winds through the straight
And those virtues turn their eyes back to their beds.

So tired

We are lost in our keep
Though all built this mighty edifice
Too many are prone to seductive sleep
The eagle has leapt in petulance
and flown too far.

So tired

We are many, we are few, we are one

The oldest lion has accepted its limitations
Its mind slides though satin into thorn, thorn to shadow.
A bush may burn but only in failing machinations
His pride now has none.

So very tired.

He was many, he was few, he is one

The stars wheel as the wind bites from the east
And while the cold tears at our hearts and minds
We throw the treats of our children to the beast
It devours what we give it, it destroys what it finds.

It doesn’t sleep.

None are any, all are few, I was one.

I love the imagery you have of the eagle as America, the lion as Britain, and disturbances in the east as the beast. I like the images of the keys jangling at the precipice of fate at the start as it gives a picture of a new door about to be open. I like the repetition of how each force is succumbed to sleep but was a bit lost with the various phrases such as "we are many, we are few, we are one," "He was many, he was few, he was one," "None are any, all are few" I don't exactly know what you mean by them.