Code of Bushidō: Loyalty (Chuugi)

The last virtue of Bushidō
Cannot be practiced by
One without humility
Who holds themselves more high

Than any other person, force
Creator or ideal
Loyalty’s a virtue that
To egos won’t appeal

Loyalty is faithfulness
To family and to peers
To masters who have trained to help
You overcome your fears

Loyalty to your country
And your ideals as well
An automatic adherence
Without the need to dwell

Loyalty is when you won’t
Stab someone in the back
When they’re not around to give
Response to your attack

Loyalty is when you choose
To hold someone up high
Even though everyone else
Just spits into their eye

Loyalty means no gossip
No speaking thoughtless things
Loyalty is standing up
For masters and for kings

For Saviors and for prophets and
For creators and Gods
A warrior will not betray
Just so they’re not at odds

The samurai were loyal to
The point where they would pay
Their very lives so loyalty
Would not be led astray

So for a second, think, is there
Something you would die for?
‘Cause if there’s not, then you have no
Loyalty at your core

You’re only loyal to yourself
Which is called “selfishness”
And since the code is intertwined
Then you will not possess

Any other virtues that
The samurai maintained
When a virtue’s sacrificed
The others aren’t sustained

But when a virtue is practiced
The others grow in turn
That’s the only way to rise
The only way to learn

The only way to walk the path
That samurai did walk
The only way to awaken
Discover and unlock

The warrior that waits within
Who doesn’t care what year
Or part of Earth you live in, only
That your heart is clear

That it’s filled with Rectitude
Courage, Benevolence
Respect, Honesty, Honor
Loyalty that’s immense

Follow that forgotten code
And all of you will know
The strength that Warrior-Knights had
In days of long ago

                        ~Miro