The Ballad of Aleio Bresus

…here lies Aleio Bresus, the last of the Ostrogoths…

I see the river shining against the pale horizon,

it teems with life long after mine is cut down,

I listen to the echo against the rocks,

I can’t ignore my coming doom,

they have reached as far as they will this night,

for the next one I will have no time for reflection,

I traveled from long miles to reach these green plains,

my army and I walked foreign shores,

we brought our families,

brought our language,

brought our enemies,

and we brought our wars,

we marched to a new homeland,

the cascading hillocks and mountain passes did not stop us,

we marched shoulder to shoulder,

bringing death, heritage and religion,

there was no enemy that could stop us,

except the ones that chased us,

they did not reach us in this hinterland,

though we are pinned down here,

my army has been wounded, decreased or bought,

our once great fighting force reduced to rabble looking for the highest bid,

six long years we fought to survive,

now the sand in the hourglass is nearly depleted,

I stand here as: Aleio Bresus the last of the Ostrogoths,

to fight to the end,

a long life was not in my future,

it was beyond my foresight that I would be the last of my tribe,

yet I stand here with my most loyal guards,

our yellow banner will be our last sunrise tomorrow,

so let them come and bring our deaths,

let them remember the Ostrogoths and the name Bresus,

and to the ones that betrayed us,

let them meet our cold unforgiving steel,

for they haven’t forgotten,

and we still remember,

we will die tomorrow,

but dying isn’t trouble for a warrior,

living is far more distasteful,

we will give our enemies this salvation,

for the disappointed survivors,

we will give them a legend that will spread like our glorious amber banner…

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