From the battles I have seen,
None are worse that the ones
With yourself...

Through thick and thin,
One thinks that the leader
Is perfect in everything,
But that is where they are wrong...

The burden that a leader holds
Is such that the world
Is bearing down on him,
To the point that he is crushed
By its painful load...

The responsibilities...
The plans...
The choice between life and death...

These are things that one must bear
In order to continue life,
Either to live to fight another day,
Or to die so that another may fight...

To survive, we must fight...
To fight, we must sacrifice...
To sacrifice, we must be willing to die...

Those who fight are willing...

But is the leader willing to take the fall
When his men die...?

Such is the war
That the brass must go through...

And such is the war
That the Chief has...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was actually written as a stand alone poem, but after several of my friends read it, and loved it, I decided to put it into a background format for everyone to enjoy.

Now, you're wondering why there's the a Spartan on it... Well, this ties in with my fanfic, Halo: Like Father, Like Daughter, with Corporal Andes being the voice behind this piece.

Andes is sort of the 'philosopher' of Team Rising Sun, and always does his best to make sure that all his teammates are working at their peak, as well as keep the morals and morale high.

Now, the chief he is talking about is specifically of Master Chief Satoshi, not Master Chief John, and the brass is everyone else. From his view, it's definitely not easy being a leader. Some people think it's easy to get up and lead a group, but what they don't know is the after-effects of being a leader, which Andes points out quite a bit as he speaks to the audiance.

The standard versions have the usual black bars on top, but the widescreen version has them on the sides. So, depending on what you want, just tell me and I'll send you whatever version in whatever format you need. These are the ones that are available.

1280/1280w
1024/1024w
800/800w

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this one, whether or not your a Halo fan, or just stopping by. It takes a while to see things from another person's point of view, but once you do, you see the world in a much different light...

Peace, and Semper Fi

Poem and Collaboration (C) Me
Halo (C) Bungie/Microsoft Inc.