Line Sergeant

Count your arrows careful, boys
And cut a few more stakes.
Dig the ditches deeper
Until the morning breaks.
For you know cavalry’s coming
With the morning sun,
And my orders are to shoot the first
One of you to run.
Shields and spears come forward,
Bowmen right behind,
And pray to every god you know
To strike those whoresons blind.
Last night we heard the speeches
About honor and the right.
The nobles want a glorious war.
We get a dirty fight.
Don’t give me talk of chivalry:
Too high above my head.
I prefer an ambush
And all my foemen dead.
Honor’s what the nobles praise
And for which they all strive.
For me a fair fight’s one in which
My boys come out alive.
Always kick ‘em when he’s down.
That way he don’t get up.
You’re fighting for your life here,
Not some pretty silver cup.
Your life depends on killing him
Before he can kill you.
Use any means at hand to run
The bloody bugger through.
You’ve heard the minstrels sing about
The glory that is war.
It’s naught but chopping bodies
Into bits of meat and gore.
And I can tell you now lads,
That the only way to win
Is rip the other guy’s guts out
And keep your own within.
Sharpen all your blades
And have them ready at your side,
The better to stick them into
Some unlucky bugger’s hide.
Put your weight behind your point
And make your killing stick.
The kindest mercy you can show
Is if you kill him quick.
I don’t care if you’re afraid:
Only a fool is not.
As long as you hold this line
With everything you’ve got.
If you stand in battle,
The enemy might, you kill.
But if I see you running
You know I surly will.
Too late now to turn about.
The horns are on the wind.
I can hear the clank and jingle
Of marching armored men.
Soon there will be battle
As far as eye can see,
And there’s no room for cowards
On either side of me.
Weapons at the ready.
Foemen to the fore.
Now’s the time we earn our pay
In bloody, dirty war.
Don’t worry that you may show fear
To the enemy.
Just make sure you always stay
Damn afraid of me.