This is the best time of the day—the dawn The final cleansing breath unsullied yet By acrid fume or death's cacophony The rank refuse of unchained ambition And pray, deny me not but know me now, Your faithful retainer stands resolute To serve his liege lord without recompense Perchance to fall and perish namelessly No flag-draped bier or muffled drum to set The cadence for a final dress parade But it was not always thus—remember Once you worshipped me and named me a god In many tongues and made offering lest I exact too terrible a tribute Take heed for I am weary, ancient And decrepit now and my time grows short There are no honorable frays to join Only mean death dealt out in dibs and dabs Or horror unleashed from across oceans Assail me not with noble policy For I care not at all for platitude And surrender such tedious detail To greater minds than mine and nimbler tongues Singular in their purpose and resolve And presuming to speak for everyman Oh, for another time, a distant field And there a mortal warrior's lonely grave But duty charges me remain until The end the last battle of the last war Until that 'morrow render unto me That which is mine my stipend well deserved The fairest flower of your progeny Your sons, your daughters your hopes and your dreams The cruel consequence of your conceit
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