Wrote this one just after Pennsic. A song about an injured knight who doesn't allow the experience to defeat him, and about pursuing one's calling for the sake of it, rather than for the trappings of it. Lyrics and chords follow:
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UNBROKEN
--(c) Michael Kelly, 2011
Am= 002210
E = 022100
E?= 020130
C = 332010
C?= 320010
F = 133211
G = 320033
Capo 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------Am------------------------------G
They called me the Aegis, a name that I'd made
------F---------------------------------G---------------Am
For I had no equal with the lance or the blade
-------Am------------------------------G
The bards sang unending of battles I'd won,
--------F-----------------------------G----------Am
My glory as bright as the afternoon sun
---C----------------------------------G
I led forth the vanguard in every fray
---------Am-----------------------------------E----E?
And I sat at the high king's right hand
-----Am-------------------------G
And if any doubted my valour or strength
-----F-----G----Am
It went unspoken
Yet although I might conquer each foe that I'd meet
My hubris and arrogance proved my defeat
Though great was my prowess, still greater my pride
My constant companion whenever I'd ride
I'd only my own inattention to blame
When the mace struck me down from my steed
And as I was churned 'neath the metal-shod hooves
I'd no limb unbroken
CHORUS:
-------------------F-----G---Am
Though I've been laid low
--------------F---G------Am
And my lifeblood spilled
---------------------F------------G-------------C-------C?-Am
Though my body be shattered, undaunted I rise,
-------F----G---Am
My will unbroken
Where once I rode proud at a great army's head
I lived now my days from a hospital bed
For months I was weak as a babe newly born
As I mended bones broken, flesh battered and torn
And when I at last was as whole as I'd get
It was all that I could do to stand
For my wounds, they had left me a shell of a man
But my resolve unbroken
(CHORUS)
My return to the field left me humbled and shamed
I'd no longer the might to live up to my name
For my hands had grown clumsy and awkward, you see
And the greenest recruits were near equal to me
My high place of honor at the side of the king
Was soon passed to a more able man
And I sat at the back of the feasthall, unseen
But my pride unbroken
(CHORUS)
When the star of my fortunes was still on the rise
There was none had shone brighter in every girl's eyes
But their sweet adoration and courtesy fled
Now replaced with indifferent derision instead
Now I see what I'd taken for love was a lie
It was only my glory they craved
And I spend my nights lonely, unsung for, unloved
But my heart unbroken
(CHORUS)
Now they tell me that I should retire from the field
That I rest on my laurels and set down my shield
That my memories of greatness are all that remain
But where they see an olive branch, I see a cane
For the day that I hang up my sword and my spurs
Is the day I'm truly unmanned
For though weak have I grown, still my duty remains,
My chain unbroken
(CHORUS)
Though my worth as a fighter has all but now died
Once again, from the ashes, to battle I ride
It's a lesson hard learned when I take up my sword
That it's fighting that matters, and not the reward
That my service to honour and kingdom and crown
Is now all that I'd seek as my prize
And so long as I rise to the challenge and strive,
I remain unbroken
(CHORUS x2)
My will unbroken
13 сен 2024
