The field had narrowed into fear Too many wounded, too much ground The brave were leaving one by one And every step made harsher sound Then where the pressure leaned the most Where breaking men looked over all One figure planted shield and weight Ajax the wall Ajax the wall Broad against the rising wave Ajax the wall Holding space the others gave Not with bright and flying grace Not with songs of easy fame But with the stubborn strength of earth And a body built to take the strain He did not move like younger fire He did not cut like sudden rain He stood the way a headland stands And made the charging line complain His shield was not a thing of shine It was a door against the flood A moving roof of hide and bronze Carried through dust and blood Ajax the wall Broad against the rising wave Ajax the wall Holding space the others gave Not with bright and flying grace Not with songs of easy fame But with the stubborn strength of earth And a body built to take the strain They came at him in bursts and cries Thinking weight can bring down weight But some men answer force with force And teach the press to hesitate He gave no inch without a cost No forward rush without a scar And every man who struck too close Learned how hard the anchored are Behind him others found their breath Wounded men and shaken ranks The slow retreat that saves an army Often rests on silent thanks For not all rescue wears a smile Or comes with trumpets, banners, pride Sometimes it is one battered back Refusing to turn aside Ajax the wall Broad against the rising wave Ajax the wall Holding space the others gave Not with bright and flying grace Not with songs of easy fame But with the stubborn strength of earth And a body built to take the strain Step by step he gave them room But never gave the field away There is an art in fighting backward And still defying those who stay Not broken, not triumphant Not crowned by any clean success Only iron in the shoulders Only breath under duress The sun looked down on dented bronze On leather torn and splintered frame And still that huge unyielding shape Kept answering every Trojan aim A wall is not forever standing No mortal rampart always holds But some can last the hour required And that is worth more now than gold Ajax the wall When the whole long line ran thin Ajax the wall Would not let the dark pour in No promise that the day was saved No lie that fate had been repealed Only one man making himself A barrier on the field So sing him not as polished glory Not as a prince in easy light Sing him as the heavy answer Needed in the hardest fight When all the bright names start to bleed And all the swift feet lose their call War remembers who stood fast Ajax the wall Ajax the wall Broad against the rising wave Ajax the wall Holding space the others gave And if men lived to see the ships And if the wounded crossed that plain A share of that dark borrowed hour Was bought by one who bore the strain
