Three Hundred

In Thebes three hundred warriors stood as one,

Not bound by oath alone but by the heart;

Each pair beside the other in the sun,

Resolved that neither life nor love would part.

They trained where shields rang sharp against the sand,

Their courage tempered deeper than mere pride;

For shame before a lover’s watchful stand

Could turn the fiercest soldier from the tide.

At Battle of Leuctra their phalanx broke the Spartan might,

A wedge that cracked the legend long revered;

The centuries still echo with the fight

Where discipline made mighty armies feared.

Yet time would claim them on another field—

Their love the strength that would not make them yield.