The line had bent, the king had gone The dust no longer faced one way What rose at dawn in ordered bronze Now shook beneath the weight of day Men looked behind, men lost their ground The cry of triumph changed its side Then two stood fast where many broke Two against the tide Two against the tide When the wide field starts to sway Two against the tide Hold the dark one hour at bay No promise that the wall will stand No word that fate can be denied Only breath and bronze and will Two against the tide Diomedes with the wounded light Still fierce enough to drive ahead Odysseus beside him grim A mind like flint, a hand like lead No singer’s ease was in that hour No clean and noble pose remained They fought because the ground was there And shame and death ran close and chained Two against the tide When the wide field starts to sway Two against the tide Hold the dark one hour at bay No promise that the wall will stand No word that fate can be denied Only breath and bronze and will Two against the tide They moved as men who knew too much About the cost of giving way One all strike and iron nerve One all measure in the fray Where others heard the nearing break They heard the place that must not fall And made a narrow stand of flesh Against the broad collapse of all Spears came bright as winter rain Shields rang hard and splinters flew The Trojans pressed like rising flood But still those battered fighters knew A field is not always held by many Sometimes all the many hide Inside the courage of a few Two against the tide Two against the tide When the wide field starts to sway Two against the tide Hold the dark one hour at bay No promise that the wall will stand No word that fate can be denied Only breath and bronze and will Two against the tide Each blow they gave bought time in dust Each step they kept made others breathe No man can stop a turning war But some can slow what waits beneath And in that slowing there is worth Though no one owns the final ground For not all glory rides in victory Some is in refusing to back down Yet battle never honors long The best are marked the quickest too The bow is watching from afar The hidden stroke is coming through Still for one fierce and narrowing hour Before the next wound changed the guide The plain remembered how men stand Two against the tide Two against the tide Not because they thought they'd win Two against the tide But because they would not give in And all the dust bore witness there Where broken ranks and fear collided Sometimes a whole army survives Because two men decided
