The Last Stand Of Leonidas And The Battle Of Thermopylae

Hear of a tale a thosand skalds would sing
How an eastern army came to claim the west
How all cities rallied under the Spartan king
For in battle his people eclipsed the rest

We must defend Hellas from the Persian hordes
For even if I shall not prevail through the fray
By will and blood, by our spears and swords
We shall meet them at the pass of Thermopylae

And at the passage of the fiery gates
Twas but a twin chariot broad
By rock and sea, a fortress in faith
The enemy nation gathered awed

The Spartans so prepared to fight until the end
Their courage ever unrivalled in myth and legend
A Malian son spoke unto Dienekes of Sparta
Concerned of a great fear of the Persian archer
"Their numbers are innumerable is it not best to run?"
"Their arrows are so many, they will cover the sun"
To this Dienekes laughed and answered unafraid
"Good, then we will have our battle in the shade"

The armies below formed and charged the assault
And so began the ferocious battle of Thermopylae
There the massive Persian attack came to a halt
For there would be no Sparta surrender on that day

King Xerxes threw his heroes the immortal ones
Against the Spartan wall that would not break
His empires finest, their ranks became undone
Succumbing at the hands of the warrior state

As the Spartans had victory within their reach
By their own hellenian blood they were betrayed
Their stregth corrupted, the stronghold breached
So began the end of the resistance at Thermopylae

Ephialtes oh accursed name
Thou shall live on in infinity
Thou art traitor thou art shame
Thus is your poisoned legacy

"O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your gloriuos town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian country
Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracles."

Betrayed by their own, facing an imminent defeat
The Spartans knew no surrender or no retreat
Surrounded by the enemy they formed a last stand
That held shield by shield until the last man
The warriors spilled blood, broke bone and marrow
Until the Persian ordered forth bow and arrow
And the sun did darken shying from the mayhem
The Spartans fell dead and Leonidas fell with them

We fell here for Sparta and her law
So carve in stone our epitaph
Go tell the Spartans oh passer-by
That here by her law we lie