Valor’s Heart
by Nathan Marchand

Endure! Endure!
Though burning arrows pierce my chest,
Poisoned swords cut my side,
And traitors’ knives stab my back.
Yet will my Valor’s Heart,
a gift of my King,
Fight on.

Hold the line! Hold the line!
Let not the Enemy advance
To steal, kill, and destroy!
I hold back the black torrent
As red rain pelts my face.
He shall not pass so long
As my Valor’s Heart beats.

I fall! I fall!
To my knees, sword in hand,
Stained with my crimson life-blood
Mingled with my Foe’s black blood.
My strength is spent, my time has come
To exit this stormy stage.

The Enemy laughs as his
black sword plunges into my chest
But though he slays me
My Valor’s Heart still boom-boom-booms
Like a war drum drowning the battle’s thunder,
Summoning my King’s warriors to the line,
the Enemy of my Soul shuttering at their battlecry.

Rest now, rest.
I return to my King
But Death has lost his victory,
His sting is dull.
And my Valor’s Heart,
a gift of my King,
Still rallies His warriors
’round its thunder.