My Country's Glorious Dead

My Country’s Glorious Dead

Not to fight

Not to risk

Not to die

To serve, to serve, to serve

And bond with friends

As we chased the girls

Who told us we were too young

And immature

Still yet we all longed for slow dances

Late night walks to deserted places

For three years I chased these goals

To learn, to serve, and to advance

I learned

That the world is a sick and cruel place

For someone who lives life at a different pace

I served

Boots polished, orders carried out

I advanced

Three stripes of honor on my sleeve

Too focused to look weak or grieve

The departed child inside of me

That world took over who I was

In three years, I no longer

Recognized myself

And so, I gave up

Quit

Nothing ever gave me any more regret

Those parties, friends by my side

Intoxicated, full of piss and pride

Leaving was as though a piece of me had died

And so, when a couple of years had passed

A war brewing

A life going

Nowhere fast

I signed up again

To serve, to serve

To go where I was told

I laboured, lifted, ran

Tried to train myself into a man

Expecting not to see

Any more time, even one day I would live free

This is what I thought my country wanted from me

A war was brewing far away

But all the army had to say

Was that I wasn’t fit to join my friends

Who were going,

Who were going far away

And would not come back quite the same again

I took some comfort in the truth

That now I was free and on the loose

But I can never forget those women and men

Who I knew and loved and I will never

See alive again

We sent them off to serve, and not to yield

All too many rest, forever lying in a field

White crosses six feet above their head

My friends, my country’s glorious dead

END

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