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
Shadows of the dead bathe the field at sunset
Echoes of the slain haunt the dawn at daybreak
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
Shadows of the dead bathe the field at sunset
Echoes of the slain haunt the dawn at daybreak