The sun sets

How do you gage decades of remaining at your post?
Seeing the future that all see, but remaining a placid ghost;
Humble beginnings, humble existence,
A soldier that decided to not rise against the resistance.

Seasons change, the trees do rebirth,
But a rodent secure with his brood does not retract the earth;
Patient as a man of holy discipline,
The years have blanketed father and kin.

But arise came the whirlwind, the utter interloper!
Cast out the citizens, as some great abductor;
Destroy once was the sanctuary,
Only to leave behind a solemn testimony.

Detest what was once golden, if the Lords so incline,
The nest has been violated, it is time to leave it behind;
The hoards may amass, obliterate what was congeal,
But new hope will happen, as easily as the transporting of a wheel.