Steve Schuster
Masada ©2020 Stephen A Schuster
Imperial forces high on horses
All the King’s men
No remorse, we’ve run our course
As far as we can
When kingdom-come is my crusade
I bear the burden of the blade
To my misfortune
My whole portion I will commend
Barbarian legions burning beacons
Deep in the night
Tried for treason, rhyme nor reason
Dead to all rights
Scarlett armies at the gate
The hour is tragically late
Hungry and weak
I turn my cheek and draw the knife
And I will render unto Caesar
What is Caesar’s
Surrender only to the calling I received
If I’m the last to take a bow
My task is holier than thou
And all the walls of Rome
Won’t stop me now
Conditions conspire
Blood and fire
Confront the condemned
Time expires
No survivors left to defend
Draw the straws and cast the die
Make it fast before they cry
By my command this land will
Never tumble again
And I will render unto Caesar
What is Caesar’s
Surrender only to the calling I received
If I’m the last to take a bow
My task is holier than thou
And all the walls of Rome
Won’t stop me now
Masada is an ancient stone fortress in Israel, located high above the Dead Sea. Its well-preserved ruins attest to the history of the ancient kingdom of Israel and the courage of its people in the face of a Roman siege.
This song chronicles the fateful events that occurred in the year 73 from the anguished perspective of the last Jewish rebel standing before the Roman legions broke through the fortress walls.
Masada features Steve playing an ancient Yemenite kuduhorn shofar." The shofar, mentioned multiple times in the Old Testament Hebrew Bible, is the horn traditionally sounded on the Jewish High Holy Days.