MMXXI when men with beards
And murder on their minds
Closed in on the Capital
And the wind held its breath.

There's worse out there of course
Invested in the air we breath
The lives we live, the tumbrel
Carrying us all to meet the blade.

We're all good fertilizer
Capable of giving life to something else
A molecular free-for-all scattering
Of everything everywhere.

What's the plot and who cares?
Some want to be there
Sooner than the rest
But then, whose plot is it?

That's the dark secret
A musical ballad
Pulling at the mystery
This way and that.

Civilization is the thin veil
Held in place by those who swear
Loyalty to the idea
Who march in time, hold rank

Through dark Thuringian forests
The legions of Rome with
Light fading, menace abounding,
One step after the next.

The net is always closing
Betrayal is the norm
Love is a slender dream
And they march, side by side

Through swamp and sere
Across a continent, drawing the line.
Friends by each other's sides
Carrying steel.

Oath swearers with a dream
Marching under the standards
Of the Republic. Taking a vow
To defend or die

Death or Glory
If only for a while
The Republic stands
Wrapped in an idea, a dream.