in memory of Sandar
April 21st, 2003

*SONG OF THE WARRIOR

On the day that I die let the sky be clear
And the east sea-wind blow free,
Sweeping along with its rover's song
To bear my soul to sea.

They will carry me out from my silent hall
To the pyre that waits for me,
And when my name is remembered henceforth
This let you say of me:

That I followed the flight of the restless tarn
As free as a vagrant breeze,
That I bared my breast to the winds' unrest
And the wrath of the driving seas.

That I loved the song of the martial drum
And the lift of the ramship prow,
That I would not bide in the cities' walls
And I could not follow the plow.

For ever the wind came out of the east
To beckon me on and on,
That the sunset's lure was my greatest love
And I chased each rose-pale dawn.

That I lived to the word my Warrior Codes
The whole of my worldly span,
And white or black or yellow I dealt
Foursquare with my fellow man.

That I drained Life's cup to its blood-red lees
And it thrilled my every vein,
But I did not frown when I laid it down
To lift it never again.

That ever my spirit turned my steps
Toward the battle smoke in the sky,
And I came at last to my final field
And I looked my death in the eye.

Then I breathed my last for a noble cause,
And I fell still savage and free...
And I gave my body unto the fire,
And my soul to the reinless sea.

Saaj