Sparta (Elegy Of Heroes)

Ὦ ξεῖν᾿, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. They told them forces would be rising from the east Striking fear into their hearts as from the wild sea rose the beast Just three hundred Spartans, as they met them side by side, When arrows flew to cloak the sun, they stemmed the Persian tide Lead our way, Leonidas Give us strength and unite us On these rocks the tide will break And no one weep at our wake! Tell them you saw us ride To the gates of our destiny Tell them we fought and died For our land and our liberty And then tell them, you saw us lie On the ground as their law commands Here they fought immortals and a man-god at these portals On their shields and armour clashed swords and arrows, bodies gashed And the phalanx held and would not Break as Xerxes' pillar dared to quake With the dawn a red sun rose, a lion's wrath, a feast for crows... Tell them you saw us ride To the gates of our destiny Tell them we fought and died For our land and our liberty And then tell them, you saw us lie On the ground as their law commands And so three hundred rode With their dark fate bestowed Upon their longest day Where they lay But so the word was spread And, this the legend said, Made Greece retaliate For Sparta's fate Lead our way, Leonidas Give us strength and unite us On these rocks the tide will break And no one weep at our wake! Tell them you saw us ride To the gates of our destiny Tell them we fought and died For our land and our liberty And then tell them, you saw us lie On the ground as their law commands