The Hero

There is only one

Who lives eternal

Through the annals of history

His name is legion

Belonging to no one region

Her name is legion

Many names and many faces

Reaching out through time

All crying the same message

Re-mem-ber my name

They call to us

Here within a moment

Call to us from printed pages

Heavy with the weight of ages

They tell us their stories

How they struggled and fought

The hope and misery that they wrought

We remember them

In the stories we tell our children

In the stories we tell ourselves

In the ones we keep on neat-stacked shelves

Ask questions

The Hero begs

Be generous

They implore

Throw down the walls

Throw wide the door

Remember the stories of their lives

Take the meaning of their tales

Unburied are the metaphors

Writ stark and clear across the page

In the very words we speak

When we speak at all of they

We find their ancient wisdom sage

There is but one hero in our tales

But one hero of which we tell at night

They stand upon our self-same earth

Gaze upon the stars and wonder

If a better way exists

They fight and strive

Debate and rage

Find themselves on history's stage

They raise their fist towards the sky

And boldly claim to rather die

Often times it is true

In stories told between me and you

The hero dies for their belief

With bold ceremony then laid beneath

Hallowed ground or given to

The flowing water

Or wandering wind

Yet over and again they come

A different face

A different voice

Doomed to one day face a choice

To stand by

Or stand tall

To win the day

Or to merely fall

Into the flesh heap of history

Their name and face become a mystery

Eclipsed by the legend

They never wanted to be

There is one hero

With a thousand faces

Uncounted names

From endless places

Just one hero

Through the ages

Whispering to us from hallowed pages

"Stand up!" They cry

"Look up!" They implore

With heads crowned in laurels and thorns

Backs bowed as the hero mourns

A life they would have rather led

Abandoned in honour

Of their beloved dead

There is one hero

Throughout all our tales

Only one

His name is Legion

Her name is Legion

Their names are Legion

Belonging to no single region

Possessed by no person

No King

No one culture

With hammer in hand

With bow well-strung

Echoing in the songs we've sung

For time out of mind and

Ages beyond counting

Just one hero

Only one

And our name is Legion