An Ode to Sorn

My strength is failing fast (Said the space-king to his men)
I shall never roam these stargates - like a conqueror again.

But while yet a drop remains - of the life-blood in my clone
Raise, oh, raise me from my vat, put the helmet upon my head,
Put my good pistol in my hand, and so lead me to the hangar,
Where my ship at dock floats
Steadily;
If I cannot end my life - in the crimsoned battle-strife
Let me die as I have lived,
On the spacelanes.

So warp, ye tempests, warp, and my spirit shall not quail;
The storm of space.
I have fought with many a foe, I have weathered many a gatecamp;
And in this hour of final death, Ere I yield my fleeting breath,
Ere the shields now start to glow - Fire come rushing from below,
And this worn and wasted structure - Be devoted to the flame,
I will raise my voice in triumph,
Singing free through the smoke;
To the Doomheim they call home - I am warping through the stars,
I am flying to Valhalla
O'er the spacelanes.

Opening verse borrowed, taken, edited, plagiarised, stolen, tweaked, changed, from the original piece - The Sea-King's Burial - by Charles Mackay. In tribute to an old corpmate Sorn Nordvind who no longer plays.



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