[Intro — quiet, returning footsteps, then the screaming reaches him]
I could hear them before I could see them
[Verse 1] I had the grain Three days worth, maybe four I was supposed to be the last one out Follow the order when the stores were sure Nobody said this would take long Nobody said anything would go wrong
I came over the hill and saw the smoke Not the kind a camp should make The kind that means something’s burning That should never burn
[Pre-Chorus 1] I knew this feeling I’d read about it in the documents Wrath doesn’t announce It doesn’t warn It just arrives And everyone inside it Stops remembering why they started
[Chorus] I am the shield Not the sword, not the soldier I am what stands between The thing and the thing it wants to reach I am the shield And the sword I kept for her Was always meant for something more than this But more than this is what is here So I am the shield
[Verse 2] He was not hard to find He was not hiding He was in the middle of it Feeding on the sound
I still had the sword It felt wrong in my hands It was always meant for her Not for a last stand
So I turned it sideways Put the flat between his reach And what he came here for He noticed
He noticed I wasn’t afraid Which wasn’t entirely true But it slowed him down for a moment And a moment was enough to start
[Pre-Chorus 2] I knew I would not win I did the counting There was no version of this Where I walk away But she was gone And there was no one else And walking away Was not a thing I knew how to do
[Chorus 2] I am the shield Not the sword, not the soldier I am what stands between The thing and the thing it wants to reach I am the shield And the sword I kept for her Was never meant for this kind of war But this kind of war is what is here So I am the shield
[Bridge — half-time, the fight is almost done] He hit harder than the documents described The ones he had already touched Stopped fighting each other Long enough to watch
I kept the sword flat I kept the children behind me I kept my feet under me Until I couldn’t
The last thing I did Was fall forward Not back
[Outro — near silence, his last thought] She doesn’t know She won’t know for a while
I was going to follow her at dawn I was going to catch up
Tell her the stores were sorted Tell her the east road was clear Tell her the camp was ready
Instead —
…the camp is quiet now.