By request of Mr. Socko Jones

So Socko loved that I wrote this poem so much that I decided to put it up here for all to read who actually check up on the CBJ website. This poem was handed out the day Blackest Night #1 came out at CBJ. Some of you may have done me the honors by grabbing a copy and reading it; if so, thank you kindly. This poem is based on and is in the voice of my all time favorite super hero (and if you read comics at all, the poem is an instant giveaway) Green Lantern. I include all the lines of the oath to begin each stanza and it includes Hal Jordan's history from child, to him first getting the ring, to Cyborg Superman destroying Coast City, Parallax, The Spectre, and Hal's return in Green Lantern: Rebirth. I hope you enjoy!

Emerald Knight
10/17/2007

In brightest day, my father died.
I was a boy with excited eyes
and a smile slapped across my face
I grasped so tightly to the barricade
amongst the crowd of spectators
watching his plane. He let me
wear his pilot jacket, oversized.
It was his promise to return to ground
but on that day at Ferris Aircraft,
my father’s jet lit up the sky.

In blackest night, I made a vow
to grow in the tear soaked jacket
years later, I would meet a dying stranger.
He had a purple face, a blood stained face
with a whispered breath and weakened limbs
he outstretched a trembled hand
dropped an emerald ring
“no evil shall escape my sight”,
slowly stated from his lips
only if I had the will to never let fear in.

Let those who worship the clouds know
that the universe is my field to run my fingers through
like blades of grass in an endless valley
like a satellite roaming the galaxy
I have become an emerald
amongst endless sand and pebbles.
evil’s might would try me,
but the hero always wins
well…that’s what one would believe.

In darkest night, the darkness crept
in with the swiftness of a super man
with an iconic costume, recognizable
but with metal skin and a sinister grin.
In the amount of time it takes to blink
for a heart to make a solitary beat
despite all the planets I’ve passed through
I could not prevent my home,
Coast City, from becoming dust amongst my feet.

Beware my power, a desperate man
I became reduced to the likes of a beggar
dragging his forsaken body along the streets
a hero broken in madness, I became a killer.
But the light would never fade entirely
it would remain a flicker,
but the light would remain inside of me
and I would die a hero,
a legend with a tragic end
with final chapters left best to ignite torches
I would be reawakened blessed with a second chance
to redeem my life with a heart cleansed
with the brightness of a lantern.

-Babyface Jones!