Endure

Lights out, breathe in, count to four Names erased, numbers carved in steel ONI in the margins of my fate Childhood left behind the locked door Six years old, they called it duty They came in silence, not a lullaby Hands in white coats, Halsey's winter glass Home goes dark - my shadow stays to die A flash-cloned goodbye in my place No birthdays - only drills and numbers Pain is the teacher, fear is a traitor Every fall is a data point Every tear is trimmed away Bone and blood, rewired and remade Heart learns orders before it learns its own name Say "Spartan" like a prayer, like a chain Say "Spartan" - and endure Brake me, bind me - still I'll rise and fight Forge my rage into armor, turn my hurt to light On shattered ground, I stand - I won't die tonight I was built for the storm - and I survive the night Break me, bind me - still I'll rise and fight Endure... Endure! Endure! Now the sky burns blue with Covenant fire One step in MJOLNIR and the world feels small Half-ton thunder, second skin of wire UNSC says "hold" - so I hold them all They whisper "demon" through shattered comms Hope in a helmet, ghost in the calm I save the lives I never got to live I pay the price and never quit I remember hands I cannot reach A face I never got to keep If this is sin, let it guard us all I'll carry the lost so the living breathe Break me, bind me - still I'll rise and fight Take my youth, take my name, you can't take my might From Reach to the void, I hold the line Made a weapon, made a shield - still human inside Break me, bind me - still I'll rise and fight Endure... Endure! Endure!