Soldier Boy

marching once again

under a myriad of stars

young men to the cause where

all is fair in love and war

but rules are rules

no mercy can be shown

in the fields of the departed

where history is born

in all the words you wrote of the

war and its ways

the words that speak the loudest

are the ones you never said

from Arras to the Somme

and the hell of Passchendaele

ninety years and counting since

you told your bloody tale

hey soldier boy is your conscience clear?

is your mind on the road from hell and back

to the one you love so dear?

I know you live in constant fear

that's just the way the world seems

through roses and tears

and when the battle cries no more

and the martyrs work is done

did the voices in your head tell you

'walk along the pathway of the righteous and good'

and leave it all behind

in the fields of the departed

with the remnants of your mind

so saddle up the horses and tighten up the reins

face the bitter winds of tyranny and shame

we blind ourselves with grace and favours of the heart

So our minds can hide away in the darkness of our past