Horatius Cocles Poem by Francis Duggan

Horatius was a sixth century Roman hero glorified in Macaulay's Lays Of Ancient Rome
Horatius on the bridge who could forget it and it lives on as a classic English poem
He held the bridge against Lars Porsena's Etruscan army and gallantly with the bridge he went down
And his courage gave birth to an immortal legend he beat the odds and saved his old Hometown.

I could not be as brave as brave Horatius, I could not stand alone against the odds
I'll never be the hero of the masses perhaps I'm a child of the lesser Gods
But then there was only one Horatius Cocles and heroes like him to say the least quite few
His courage is destined to live forever however much of the legend is true?

In the twenty first century there's none like Horatius Cocles no modern soldier quite so brave as he
Or maybe his story is not all that true there are so many myths in history
Still Macaulay in his great poem glorified him I still recall it from my school going days
And that poem without a doubt will live forever as one of the English language's immortal lays.

Horatius on the bridge the noble hero against the odds he bravely fought and won
And in Rome they built a statue by the Tiber in honour of the City's favourite son
One of the bravest men in human history and though he lived fifteen centuries ago
His name 'twould seem destined to live forever and with every year his legend seem to grow.