“I. I salute you, Warrior of the Swarm,
Hundreds of tiny mouths that bite,
Thousands of tiny stings that torment,
Whose persistence is unmatched.
Sharp eyes that miss nothing,
Seeker and destroyer of every tiny flaw,
Keeper of my survival,
I thank you for your endless task
Of dedicating me to the labor of self-perfection.
“II. I am the Virgin Warrior who stands alone,
The well-though-out attack, aimed without hot rage
And only with the coolest and most exact precision.
I am the spear of the Amazons, aimed true
And keeping all at a safe distance.
I am the one who trains daily and nightly
For the martial form that is clean and absolute
The consummate slash like the dance of Death.
“III. Go into battle, Warrior of the Swarm,
But these are the laws I place on you:
That in your love of perfect detail
And your focus on perfectly winning the single battle
That you do not lose sight of the greater meaning
And make judgments based on the shorter view,
That you have patience with the errors of others
And do not hold them to standards beyond a mortal life,
Nor judge one an enemy only through your contempt.”
