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Hold the keep (Knights Hospitaller)

Lyrics: Hear now, good folk, of a keep on a cliff, Where mercy wore mail, and prayer wore steel. The wind came howling off the blackened sea, Torch-smoke and salt on the bitter air, A ragged host with a thousand teeth, And one small gate that would not despair. Within these stones, no lords for gold, No reavers drunk on pillage’s praise, But brothers bound by a harder oath, White cross burning through the haze. They kissed the hilt, they bowed the head, Not to a crown, but to Christ instead, And the chapel bell rang soft and clear, Like a heart that will not yield to fear. Hold the keep, hold the keep, though the night takes all, By the Cross and the Rule, we will not fall. Tuitio Fidei, Obsequium Pauperum, Guard the Faith, serve the poor, till our breath is done. Let the arrows sing, let the battering ram speak, We are Hospitallers, and we do not flee. In the lower hall the lanterns glowed, Bandages, water, bread and wine, A wounded squire with a shattered arm, A pilgrim child with eyes too kind. “First tend the sick,” said the Marshal grim, “Then take your post on the eastern wall, For steel is nothing without the vow, And mercy is why we stand at all.” Obedience, poverty, chastity sworn, A cloak of service, a crown of thorns, And every shield, in candlelight, Was a prayer hammered into night. Hold the keep, hold the keep, though the night takes all, By the Cross and the Rule, we will not fall. Tuitio Fidei, Obsequium Pauperum, Guard the Faith, serve the poor, till our breath is done. Let the arrows sing, let the battering ram speak, We are Hospitallers, and we do not flee. The first assault broke like winter surf, Ladders rose and the grapnels bit, They met them there with pike and psalm, With boiled oil, with stubborn grit. A brother fell, and another stepped, Hands still steady, lips still warm, Murmuring, “Lord, receive this life, As You received the nails and thorn.” Not for glory, not for song, But for the weak who cannot stand, For the road, the bed, the open door, For the pilgrim’s cup in a stranger’s hand. Hold the keep, hold the keep, though the night takes all, By the Cross and the Rule, we will not fall. Tuitio Fidei, Obsequium Pauperum, Guard the Faith, serve the poor, till our breath is done. Let the arrows sing, let the battering ram speak, We are Hospitallers, and we do not flee. If dawn is denied, we will light our own, With votive flame and steadfast breath, For love is stronger than iron, And sacrifice outruns death. Blessed are those who lay down life, For friend, for stranger, for the least, So lift the cross, so lock the gate, And make this keep a living feast. The gate gave way with a thundered crack, The courtyard filled with ash and screams, Yet still they formed around the sick, A wall of men, a wall of beams. “By Saint John,” cried the Captain out, “By holy mercy, by holy right, If we must die, then let it be As lamps that burn against the night.” Hold the keep, hold the keep, though the night takes all, By the Cross and the Rule, we will not fall. Tuitio Fidei, Obsequium Pauperum, Guard the Faith, serve the poor, till our breath is done. Let the arrows sing, let the battering ram speak, We are Hospitallers, and we do not flee. Hold the keep, hold the keep, till the last bell tolls, In the hands of God, we commend our souls. And when the stones were silent, the oath remained, Written not on parchment, but on the heart.