COURAGE

COURAGE, by Teel James Glenn

 
From the ramparts voices sing
A ballad old and sweet,
Of
Maidens faire,
Dragons foul
And
Many a heroic feat
It drowns the sound of my own heart’s beat as
It pounds like a trumpet blast
And conceals my fear that
I won’t stand here-
That this warrior won’t hold fast
When the battle comes
And
Blood is shed
Will
I walk away; be among the dead?
Will
My wounds be grave
Will
I comrades save,
Will
I wet myself like a child?
And who beside me feels this fear,
He to my right or on my left side near?
Is that narrowed gaze and the steady hand
A lie for them
As,
I know it is for this man?
Oh
Odin-sire,
Fill my loins with fire,
Give me chucks of ice in my veins-
Give me steel in my stance-
Give me half of a chance
To
See
the sunset of this day.
And
Raven-father,
If
I fall,
Let me do it face to foe,
Let the skalds sing,
Of this wondrous thing-
Of
A warrior who loved
And lived
In the shade of his fear
Yet stepped forward to embrace
The battle crow…

 

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Teel James Glenn is a native of Brooklyn though he’s traveled the world for thirty years as a Stuntman/ Fight choreographer/ Swordmaster, Jouster, Book Illustrator, Storyteller, Bodyguard and Actor. He’s been lucky to study under the head of the Seoul Military Academy and Errol Flynn’s last stunt double and feel obligated to ‘pass that on’. He was head instructor at the Hollywood Stunts professional stunt-training center in New York and teaches stage sword privately.

His greatest achievement however, is his awesome daughter Aislin Rose.

He’s had short stories in places like AfterburnSF, Black Belt, Classic Pulp Fiction Stories, Lost Continent Library, Weird Stories Magazine, and Strange, Weird and Wonderful Magazine among others.