Prayer to Tyr for Courage

by Ari

I stand in the sunset, O Lord of Swords,

Seeking your wisdom in the last ray of light

Falling from between the clouds as scarlet pools

Like blood upon the ground.

I face the act of honor that may break me,

May cast me out from clan and kin,

May cleave a gulf between us.

I have turned my face from this doing,

Times uncountable, yet still I am drawn back.

Time turning, I now accept what must be done,

And my resolve is as iron, but iron unsmelted.

Lord of Swords, I pray you give me the fire of courage

To lay behind my life, my raw honor,

To sustain me as I am pressed through this forging.

One-handed God who does what must be done,

Grim and uncompromising, keep my spine straight,

My head high, my eyes forward on this path.

Hail, God of honor! I pledge to you

That if you bestow this gift, I will use it

Only on a path that I will never need to live down.

Give me that gift which is the last gift,

To keep going in the face of all fear,

To do right in the face of all necessity,

To walk unswerving through fire and blood and steel.

Tyr5