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The Warlord Wars No More -3

So we cross this threshold of war as awful friends in freefall,
and with these trumpets and drums shaking the graves
of ancient days we bring forth instruments of death's call
through our very own homeland where the music of valor plays,
songs, poems and parades are already being written in the pulse of the people,
only the names of the victors and vanquished remain unknown, 
yet both will be Roman, both will bleed, and both will reveal their soul's steel,
pallisades, seige towers and ballistas of big stones thrown
from town to town, from Arminium, Corfinium and to the Bay of Brundisium
the Italians of Rome have said to the Legions of Caesar save our home
seek no throne, carry not a crown, show the world that cruelty can be outdone
scourge the vile with the virtue of Clementia, make the Senate atone,
make not widows of Rome's daughters nor orphans of the innocent
bring a heartbeat of holiness back to these halls and hills where peace has been absent,

Bring a heartbeat of holiness back to these halls and hills where peace has been absent,
you've heard these honest entreaties and endearments 
from mothers and elders, citizens, priests and from the militant,
we are not men who march on dreams,
we have not marched into Greece to starve and grovel
under the ritual yoke of this pseudo Republican army
headed by an overhyped hothead acting under an upper class spell,
I believe we were born to be on this battlefield's history,
we are inspired by unequalled Evocati leadership
veterans venomous in brute brilliance, 
they have a myriad of mercenaries whose cause is only for coin on the hip
they outnumber us 6 to 1 on horse and 2 to 1 in the lines
most of Pompey's Legates have learned warfare from talk and books,
we've been taught the terror of triumph from where the heart looks...

J.A.B.

Copyright © Justin Bordner | Year Posted 2018

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Alesia Leach Date: 5/11/2025 12:26:00 PM Justin, this chapter is thunderous--rich with conviction and moral gravity. The tension between loyalty and legacy is masterfully done. “Bring a heartbeat of holiness…” is such a powerful plea amid the war cry. Every stanza pulses with poetic purpose and historic weight. Login to Reply Justin Bordner Date: 5/13/2025 3:00:00 PM That which we can justify we can live with and sacrifice for Alesia. I love the way you cerebrally celebrate the ethos of this composition!...J.A.B.

Laura Breidenthal Date: 3/3/2018 2:50:00 AM The contrast of "brute brilliance" and and the entreaties for the "virtue of Clementia"..."we've been taught the terror of triumph from where the heart looks" No doubt there is plenty of heart, plenty of intrigue and genius in war-trodden minds and brutality. The majority of persons perhaps grow weary of such things and long for peace over triumphant violence. Always, Laura Login to Reply Justin Bordner Date: 3/10/2018 11:12:00 PM Continued...interestingly Laura, as the Roman war ethos evolved over centuries, eventually becoming a professional war machine, a war industry, men volunteered to join the great Legions for a career where as in earlier times the Legions were primarily constituted of impromptu free men, citizen soldiers, conscripted short term to meet an imminent threat...if they prevailed, survived, they would return to their hometowns as farmers or tradesmen, very much like America's Colonial Militia...J.A.B. Justin Bordner Date: 3/10/2018 11:01:00 PM There is an ebb and flow for the passion of war, you are keenly correct Poetess. Soldiers do not wish to wage war in perpetuity of their lives, they desire only for their lives to mean something extraordinary for their ancestry and for posterity. Primordial passion for possession is what ignites wars, nothing will ever change this primal fact. Within these wonderful verses above, one sees, feels, and understands the dichotomy of motives for warring, a sense of heritage, altruism, and monetary gain...J.A.B.