This is the best time of the day?the dawn
|
The final cleansing breath unsullied yet
|
By acrid fume or death¡¯s cacophony
|
The rank refuse of unchained ambition
|
And pray, deny me not but know me now,
|
Your faithful retainer stands resolute
|
To serve his liege lord without recompense
|
Perchance to fall and perish namelessly
|
No flag-draped bier or muffled drum to set
|
The cadence for a final dress parade
|
But it was not always thus?remember?
|
Once you worshipped me and named me a god
|
In many tongues and made offering lest
|
I exact too terrible a tribute
|
|
Take heed for I am weary, ancient
|
And decrepit now and my time grows short
|
There are no honorable frays to join
|
|
Only mean death dealt out in dibs and dabs
|
Or horror unleashed from across oceans
|
Assail me not with noble policy
|
For I care not at all for platitude
|
And surrender such tedious detail
|
To greater minds than mine and nimbler tongues
|
Singular in their purpose and resolve
|
And presuming to speak for everyman
|
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Oh, for another time, a distant field
|
And there a mortal warrior¡¯s lonely grave
|
But duty charges me remain until
|
The end the last battle of the last war
|
Until that ¡®morrow render unto me
|
That which is mine my stipend well deserved
|
The fairest flower of your progeny
|
Your sons, your daughters your hopes and your dreams
|
The cruel consequence of your conceit
|
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|
Warrior
|
| Steve Earle |
