Shade of Glory

Sit patiently now while I tell my story

of three hundred standing in the Shade of Glory

For it was there at the Gates when it came to be

that they came to their Glory at Thermopylae.

Three hundred men with a daughter or son

knew they would die fore the deed was done.

Each of them selected must be a sire

or else to selection they could not aspire.

Prepared for arms from the day they were born.

For wealth and luxury they felt only scorn.

Shoulder to shoulder beneath the sky

They were trained to the code of "Stand and Die".

And the enemy would tremble with the sound of each word

For they proved time and again it was not absurd

you could not hold against a Spartan advance

and living through the battle was only a shade of chance.

What they didn't understand was what came to be

The words weren't a threat to the enemy.

It was a code carried inside each Spartan male

and it would carry three hundred beyond the veil.

For their Country they must defend the pass

and three hundred would die from the first to last.

Glory from then on would be their shade

for it was not for themselves this price they paid.

Three hundred stood in the Gate to hold the Persian mass

and while one still lived no Persian would pass.

Still today when men of arms speak of Glory

Time and again they tell the Thermopylae story.

And if to the Pass you are standing near

listen to the wind and you will hear

the sound it whispers as it rushes by

is Three Hundred souls saying " Stand and Die".