This poem is about the fearless 300 Spartans that fought in the Battle of Thermopylae. Led by King Leonidas they held back the Persians for three days.
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The Fearless 300
© Rudolph 1993
Four Hundred and Eighty years
before Christ
the fearless 300
paid with their lives.
The bravest men
that fought side by side.
They fought the fiercest battle
until they all had died.
The Persians were marching
300 hundred thousand strong.
Xerxes determined to
do Greece some wrong.
They burned and destroyed
as they moved from
town to town.
These Greeks they laughed
are nothing but clowns.
They came to the Hot Gates
of Thermopylae.
Where three armed men
could hold a company at bay.
There was no way around
except the narrowest of paths.
They’d have to forge ahead
and risk an attack.
The Persians found
the path was blocked.
A Spartan King
sprang from the rocks.
With a spear in his hands
and Greeks at his heels
they drove back the Persians.
The path had been sealed.
A traitor went to Xerxes
and told him a way.
A secret path around
Thermopylae.
He said, “If I succeed you will pay me well.
If I fail you can have my head.”
The secret path was real
and they attacked from the rear.
The Greeks were doomed to
die right there.
The Spartan King Leonidas
ordered a decree.
The Spartans will stay
but the others must flee.
Go warn Athens.
Prepare for war!
The Persians are coming and they
want to fight some more.
The Spartans held for three long days.
Fighting with spears
they drove them away.
When their spears were broken
they fought with their daggers.
When their daggers were broke
they fought with their hands.
Until all 300
had died for their land.
The Oracle at Delphi
had sealed his fate.
King Leonidas
died at the Hot Gates.
The descendent of Hercules lay on
the mound of the slain.
His men bought Greece some time.
They didn’t die in vain.
by,
Christopher Rudolph
© Rudolph 1993
Four Hundred and Eighty years
before Christ
the fearless 300
paid with their lives.
The bravest men
that fought side by side.
They fought the fiercest battle
until they all had died.
The Persians were marching
300 hundred thousand strong.
Xerxes determined to
do Greece some wrong.
They burned and destroyed
as they moved from
town to town.
These Greeks they laughed
are nothing but clowns.
They came to the Hot Gates
of Thermopylae.
Where three armed men
could hold a company at bay.
There was no way around
except the narrowest of paths.
They’d have to forge ahead
and risk an attack.
The Persians found
the path was blocked.
A Spartan King
sprang from the rocks.
With a spear in his hands
and Greeks at his heels
they drove back the Persians.
The path had been sealed.
A traitor went to Xerxes
and told him a way.
A secret path around
Thermopylae.
He said, “If I succeed you will pay me well.
If I fail you can have my head.”
The secret path was real
and they attacked from the rear.
The Greeks were doomed to
die right there.
The Spartan King Leonidas
ordered a decree.
The Spartans will stay
but the others must flee.
Go warn Athens.
Prepare for war!
The Persians are coming and they
want to fight some more.
The Spartans held for three long days.
Fighting with spears
they drove them away.
When their spears were broken
they fought with their daggers.
When their daggers were broke
they fought with their hands.
Until all 300
had died for their land.
The Oracle at Delphi
had sealed his fate.
King Leonidas
died at the Hot Gates.
The descendent of Hercules lay on
the mound of the slain.
His men bought Greece some time.
They didn’t die in vain.
by,
Christopher Rudolph
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