The king's command

The north has fallen back
You did this
I know that
The pardon will be kept
I promise it in my own name

Your Majesty
Speak

Yesterday morning a man died
He did not die in the fighting
He died after the fighting ended
He was a pardoned man
Beheaded for stealing salt ten years ago
He died with your paper inside his coat
And your seal was stamped on that paper
So I ask — what is that paper?

That pardon covers the battlefield
Outside the battlefield it does not cover
The law is so
It was not I who made that law
But I sit above it
The officer acted according to the law
And so I will not punish that officer

I understand

Then I will ask one more thing
When this fighting is over
what are we?
Today we are a line, and tomorrow what?
The man who stands beside you
and the man you pardoned
walked the same ground and bled the same blood
Does that hold tomorrow morning too?
Or tomorrow morning are we
thieves again

My hand went into my coat
A bundle of soaked paper is there
Names the sea kept for ten years
The names of the men who killed those people
The only person in this world who could take it
is standing in front of me now
Two steps
Two steps is all it would take

I took my hand out
It was empty

What is your name?
I have none
Then let it stay that way