"To Fighting Men"
("Traveler's Tale XXXIX")

Yet another Traveler's Tale...  - poetheart 03/16/02

Do ye ken the tales o' Asgard?
Or, Gotterdammerung?
The role call in Valhalla-
Where the warrior's odes are sung?

Or the tales in stifling barracks-
The night afore the fray?
Where weary veterans frighten lads
Wi' tales o' bygone days.

Aye! Tales o' Roman legionaires…
Their eagle standards bright,
The reputation wha' they owned-
Fer knowin' 'ow to fight.

The Turks, the Persians, Mongol hordes
The Moors, all fightin' men-
Who crossed their blades wi' merry smiles-
I love their tales to spin.

An', aye, I nigh fergit m'sel'
The Foreign Legion, too!
The bloody fray at Camerone!
The brawl at Dien Bien Phu!

I'd lift me glass to fightin' men-
I'll even buy the ale…
Yol bolsun! May there be a road!
So goes the Traveler's Tale.

by John R. Yaws

go back