Thalarion The Way Of King
Gleaming shell of an autumn lie
Fable of right divine
You gained your crowns by heritage
But blood was the price of mine
The throne that I won by blood and sweat
By Perun, I will not sell
For promise of valleys filled with gold
Or threat of the halls of hell
When I was a fighting man
The kettle-drums they beat
The people scattered gold dust
Before my horse's feet
The way of the king
But now I am a great king
The people hound my track
With poison in my wine-cup
And dagger at my back
The way of the king
What do I know of cultured ways
The gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land
And bred in the open sky
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile
They fail when the broadswords sing
Rush in and die, dogs,
I was a man before I was a king