Gunslinger's Hymnal

Loyalty is the first virtue.

To be loyal is to give all you have to someone else,
And when they think that you are all used up,
And you have nothing left,
You smile.
Because you know you have so much more to give,
They just never knew to ask you for it,
Because loyalty does not end.
It does not end when your flesh tears.
It does not end when your bones shatter.
It does not end when your mind breaks.
It ends only when your soul is torn apart by the chains that once held it.
And in that moment you are free.

Loyalty is the first virtue.
It is the virtue that you give,
And give,
And give to another.

Loyalty ends only in death.

Justice is the second virtue.

Justice is balance,
To be just is to seek balance.
It is to find ways to go into the dark,
And turn it to light.
Because the light is bound by rule and law,
And the dark is free to seep into existence,
To tip the scales in its favor.

Like the dark,
The actions of men are not so bound,
So the just go with sword and torch
And stab at shadows,
Waiting for the new dawn to rise.

The Blind Lady watches silently,
Not yet willing to tell the Just
That the sun died long ago.
Only the hearts of good men bring light to the world,
Like so many sparks they glimmer in the night,
Then die.

Justice is the second virtue.
It is the light that the dark steals from the world,
And few notice its passing.

Strength is the third virtue.

Strength is not force of arms,
It is force of will.
Strength is the ability to free the self,
To wrest it from the daemons that guide ones hand to wrong.
To be strong is to choose.
It is the choice to reject what is easy.
It is the choice to reject what feels good.
It is the choice to accept what is right.

It is the choice that all men fail to make,
Given time, and temptation.
Because there is so much that is easy,
Because there is so much that feels good,
Because there is so little that seems right anymore.

Strength is the third virtue.
Like a stone in the desert,
It is worn away slowly,
Painfully,
Because nothing is eternal,
And evil does not relent.

The flesh cannot withstand the storm.

Truth is the fourth virtue.

It is to turn ones voice to white light,
It is to never let your heart bleed new darkness into the world.
It is not only to never lie,
But also to have no need of lies.
Lies only exist to cloak the darkness in twilight,
To make the darkness glow as it poisons the soul,
To make the shadows glitter as they wound the innocent.
Truth is not mere honesty,
It is pureness that makes honesty obsolete.

Truth is the fourth virtue.
The virtue silenced by cowardice.
The virtue neglected by weakness.
The virtue left to crumble and rust and fail
Because of the honeyed words form the darkness,
It promises, “I’ll forgive you.”
It lies, “I'll still love you.”
It whispers, “Because it won’t hurt them if they don’t find out.”

Truth is being hung by the convenience of secrecy.

Truth is being strangled by our doubts.

Wisdom is the fifth virtue.

It is the ability to see with clear eyes
Through the darkness of the world
To where he light lies dieing,
Beaten and weak, bleeding radiance into nothingess.
It is the ability to remember what it means to do what is right.
And to know what it means to be good.
And to care enough to pursue them.
The light is not dead,
She is merely weakened from assault and starvation,
She needs champions to bring her to the world once more.
If only someone could see her though the endless night.

Wisdom is the fifth virtue.
It is to know good from evil.
It is to not be ignorant of the effects of one’s actions.
It is the virtue that allows men to transcend their base natures,
And carry the light back to this world.

Wisdom is the mother of hope.