Sun and Moon posture a battle stance  
Charge of darkness parry of light          
Pagans celebrate the Sun's advance      
Four days from the longest night

The ruins of the world were in their hands.
They suffered, and they did not object.
They were shattering, bit by bit.

One of them looked up, and purred.
A battle for the ages, it ways.
5 against 1.

The fate of the universe was in their hands.

It was reset many times before.
This would be the last.

A final strike, for them.

For the knight.
For the mage.
For the redeemed.
For the young.
For the spirit.

For them, it was a victory.

But at what cost?

As children, we are told to be a Beowulf.
To be brave and to put others before ourselves,
To be the strongest and the best,
We are told to be the perfect hero.

In this day and age, it is never really okay to make mistakes, even if they say it is.
We have a drive within us that being the best and the strongest is our only option.
We put the pressure on ourselves to be the Beowulf, which only causes us to wake up the Grendel.

But the real problem is, we are ashamed of that.
We are ashamed of fear, which causes us to act out and create evil.
But when you think about it, what is bravery without fear.
Because the truth is, no one is ever going to be one-hundred percent a Beowulf.

All of us have a little Grendel inside, it’s called being human.
We yell, we scream, we scare each other,
We lie, we cheat, we judge.
We are vicious and hurtful with our words.
At times, we see no light in our hearts,
We let evil win.
We are often so far from perfect.
In fact, the Grendel in me is sometimes more prominent than the Beowulf,
But we have to realize that sometimes, that’s okay.

You see, if not for the Grendel in me, the Beowulf wouldn’t know it’s true strength.
For the Beowulf in me, within all of us, would not fight nearly as hard, because it would have nothing to overcome.
The point isn’t to be ashamed of the Grendel within,
The point is to keep pushing through so the Grendel doesn’t win.
Do not isolate yourself and hide away in the depths of darkness when you can’t seem to find the light.
Find the Beowulf within yourselves,
Embrace it’s fierce loyalty and drive to destroy evil.
Welcome the light within you,
If you do that, you will win the war within yourself.

To all those out there desperately trying to be the hero:
Accept that losing the battle sometimes is okay,
Try your best to win the war,
But do not take on that army alone,
Because the person who fights with no one by their side is bound to lose eventually.

Because how can you be a hero, when you have no one by your side?

The pen can strike much deeper than the sword.
Yet the sword will always have its place.
It deserves the utmost respect.
Like a solider who sets out to meet his foe- he recognizes his enemy and acknowledges its power.
He's prepared for every blow.

Know your place and learn your stance.
Be ever quick to hold your tongue.
The man behind a rifle analyzes every angle before he pulls the trigger on that gun.

Both a bullet and a word can send a ripple in effect.
Make no mistake in all your judgments
they may stretch the length of death.

Pressing on into the future yet we never know what's next.
What does tomorrow hold?
Take a guess, and I assure you it's as good as mine will ever be.

I see a man behind a desk;
he conjures up a thought.
I see a soldier set in battle;
he's prepared to take his shot.

You see before the lights go out, there's always work yet to be done.
As the clock continues racing,
set your pace against the sun.

Take aim.
Your opponent is at the ready.

You had short red hair
And a smile that killed
You spoke of home
And the army you'd build
You had freckles under your eyes
And a couple on your nose
You laughed at all my jokes
And then you told your own
You trained us from nothing
And you were never scared
You led us into battle
And I followed you everywhere

Is it too late to revel
In reveries of rival lovers
Fighting for each other's heart
To be one and the same
And wholly remain
Without disguise and without shame
Let love wash away our battle stain
For in His holy name we fought
Against each other’s heart
In the name of love
We pray
Forgive us, Lord today