Shield Wall!, By: Derrick Wilkinson

Who they were no one knew,
As the fyrds slowly grew,
And the banners of Loki flew high.
When their battle cries sound,
From the high moral ground,
Come the stories the others deny.

And up goes the call:
Shield Wall!

Then the bowmen aimed high,
And let arguments fly;
A rain of rhetorical cries.
And when they were done,
And nothing was won,
The other side let loose their lies.

And again came the call:
Shield Wall!

All those princes and fools
Used all of their tools
Of spin, of deceit and coercion.
But they’d walked different stages,
And read different pages,
To those with the alternate version.

And they cry as they fall:
Shield Wall!

So they prayed to their Gods
To alter the odds,
To deal them the winning hand.
‘Cause they all know they’re right,
And they must win the fight,
So it turns out just as they planned.

Then again came the call:
Shield Wall!

Still they all sing their songs
Of their rights and their wrongs,
And they dance with their spears held high.
But when all’s said and done,
Whatever is won,
Will any left standing know why?

Still they cry as they fall:
Shield Wall!

When the soldiers are done,
And the cold winter sun
Sets into the barren skies;
When we’ve lost all we knew,
There’ll be nothing to do,
But pray in the dark for sunrise.

Pray none again call:
Shield Wall!