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, and no mercy can be shown
In the fields of the departed where history is born

In all the lines and prose of war and its ways
The words that speak the loudest are the ones that you would never say
From Arras to the Somme and the hell of Passchendaele
For 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
And that's just the way the world seems through roses and tears

When the battle cries no more, and the martyr's work is done
Did the voices in your head tell you to walk along the pathway
Of the righteous and the good, and leave it all behind
In the fields of the departed with the remnants of your mind?

Through roses and tears
Through roses and tears
Roses and tears

So saddle up the horses and tighten up the reins
Face the bitter winds of tyranny and shame
We blind ourselves with grace and favors of the heart
So our minds can hide away in the darkness of our past
Roses and tears