THE PHOTOGRAPH
| An old man sits in silence And there's tear stains on his face His thoughts have been transported To another time and place His brow is deeply furrowed And the pain shows in his eyes His grief is deep and endless It's a grief you can't disguise He is gazing at a photograph Of young men brave and strong It's a stark and cold reminder How this world sometimes goes wrong The men are dressed in army 'greens' With smiles upon their face They're not here in their homeland They're in a far off place They've gone to serve their country In a war that shouldn't be And even though we won that war He lets his tears run free He puts names to all the faces As the horror fills his mind Of the ones so badly wounded And the ones they left behind Young men barely in their prime With so much life to live They gave their all for country Til they had nothing left to give And of the so-called 'lucky ones' Who managed to survive Their minds were badly damaged Though they did come home 'alive' The grief and horror that they saw Stole innocence away Scarred memories that would haunt them Was the price they had to pay And many more just like them Fought on the other side Some of them we now call friends Too many young men died Devoted women also served To keep our foe at bay With dignity and courage Some gave their life away And the people of our homelands Still feel the grief and pain Of the husbands, sons and daughters That they'll never see again Their life was snuffed as one would snuff A flickering candle flame This terror that we know as 'war' Is mankind's greatest shame Their names are carved in history Note every name with pride All soldiers died believing That right was on their side A world that harbours hatred Is a world that's filled with war Each day there's humans dying And there'll be many more Fighting wars of bloodshed Is not a path we choose It produces so much heartbreak That even winners lose But we'll fight on forever Regardless of the cost For life is not worth living In a world where freedom's lost Oppressive, heartless, tyrants Treat all war as a game Yet, except for these delusional freaks Deep down we're all the same Love resides in saner hearts We share the dream of peace But while fanatics dwell among us The wars will never cease Their threats will go unheeded Though they wave their blood-stained knife Our resolve will never waver To protect our way of life We have democracy and freedom Of a kind that makes life 'whole' And a love for God and country That is deep within our soul We'll not live neath a tyrant's rule They'll not tear us apart For we share a bond that's priceless We have freedom in our heart They'll not find fear within us All fear we rise above As we defend with pride and honour This country that we love The old man's eyes look skyward And he softly murmurs "Why?" He asks God for the answer Why the young should have to die He has so many photographs He carries in his head They're photographs of misery Of the wounded and the dead They believed in what they fought for Through hardship, grief and pain And he knows that every one of them Would do it all again His tired old hands are trembling And again the teardrops flow These were men he called his buddies Why they're gone he'll never know The young men in his photograph Have faces filled with pride Their memory never leaves him They still walk by his side And to many more just like them We have a debt we can't repay Through their persistence and their valour We have the life we live today Their future taken from them With their manhood just begun We should remember them with reverence At the setting of the sun K.D. Abbott © 2008 ********************************** Written in memory of a World War II Veteran. His memories haunted him for the remainder of his life. *********************************** |
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