To step into this moment,
ease out of time, become
tranced with resolve,
a thought honed to a spear
that every muscle holds
poised, that belies the sinews’
malice, the quenchless feud
flowing between stillness
and intent, and stare dead-on
toward heartless void — even here,
his phalanx arrayed, the warrior
striding on the tide of his breath
may be felled by the merest quiver
sensed quisling through his thigh.