One Last Rep
A gladiator with a cracked sword and a blinded helm, set up to lose. He can't pick the fight, but he can still choose his last move. That's where I was: worn out, outmatched, and still choosing. Defiance was the only weapon I had left against a world that seemed happy to crush me and tell me I had no place in it.
The dust and roar, the jeering crowd
The Emperor's thumb, a thundercloud
He hands me down my given arms
To shield me from the coming harms
A rusted sword, a helm of night
That steals away my own damn sight
The gods all laugh, a cruel decree
A final, bloody joke for me
My sword is cracked, my helm is blind
The gods themselves have been unkind
But in the dust, I draw the line
This final, painful breath is mine!
My body screams, my heart's a fist
A truth the world has somehow missed
That even here, upon the rack
A warrior can still fight back!
One last rep before the fall!
I'll give my honor to it all!
The chest still aches, the vision swims
A hymn for torn and broken limbs
A memory of a different war
The one I've fought my life before
The training's hard, the fuel is low
The only truth I'll ever know
Is that the game is rigged to fail
A grim and bloody, cautionary tale
My sword is cracked, my helm is blind
The gods themselves have been unkind
But in the dust, I draw the line
This final, painful breath is mine!
My body screams, my heart's a fist
A truth the world has somehow missed
That even here, upon the rack
A warrior can still fight back!
One last rep before the fall!
I'll give my honor to it all!
It's not for glory, not for fame
They'll never even know my name
It's not for hope, it's not for grace
Just the defiance on my face
The quiet law inside my soul
That makes a broken man feel whole
The choice to meet the final test
And prove that I have done my best
My sword is cracked, my helm is blind
The gods themselves have been unkind
But in the dust, I draw the line
This final, painful breath is mine!
My body screams, my heart's a fist
A truth the world has somehow missed
That even here, upon the rack
A warrior can still fight back!
One last rep before the fall!
I'll give my honor to it all!