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