The Warrior's Song

Come near to me
and I will tell
of the things I have done and seen.

I have taken hold of rams
and brought them to the ground.
When a ram confronted me,
I chased him; I ran
and took hold of his horns
and threw him to the ground.

I have sat astride a horse-
a male horse, and been thrown
from his back.
He threw me to the ground,
and I struck him.
I struck him, and straddled him
once more.

I stood in a field naked
in a snowstorm,
utterly exposed.  I stood exposed
in the snow without any clothes
and did not succumb.

I am a wolf
I am an eagle
I am a bear in the cold wind.

I am man,
and I will not submit
to the oxgoad.
I will not be harnessed
to a plow.

I have climbed a mountain,
and drank from a mountain spring,
and I will not be broken.