The heart hangs heavy of a warrior overcome Twigs break beneath my feet as I make the long way home When the time for duty came the fear was clear in their eyes Their painful howls will ring when they see just I survive My kinsmen lay behind me, prostrate in open graves Cold and still, bereft of life, the field-of-slaughter's prey As daylight wanes and birdsong fades I ponder what befell Laid back on my bed of leaves I curse that I still dwell
Shadows of the dead bathe the field at sunset Echoes of the slain haunt the dawn at daybreak
As dawn's embrace approaches and breaks my somber dreams I call to mind our falling flag, my brethren's final screams The harrowing sounds of conquest still pierce my troubled soul As bent beneath the weight of grief I grimly wander on
Some are born to thrive, others doomed to die As fate decrees, the threads proclaim The path an arrow flies, a spear-thrust parried or true A kingdom saved, or a tribe enslaved The web that wyrd will weave, the outcome fortune deems Joys unbound, or a burial mound Courage that lasts or fails, the wind on hostile sails Sorrow's tears or blissful cheers