THE SOLDIER


Billy Clark was seventeen
When he went off to war.
He kissed his mum and dad goodbye
And walked out through the door.
He kissed his girl at the station
And wiped away her tears.
He said that he’d be back again
If it took a  thousand years.

He headed for the trenches,
For Afghanistan.
Gallipoli, The Falklands.
Beirut  and Vietnam.
He set off for Dunkirk,
Agincourt and Troy.
Passchendaele would make
A man out of a boy.

A million Billy Clarks
Have gone away to war.
Old men sit and shake their heads.
They’ve passed this way before.


He was in the thick of it
Right from the very start.
But Billy was a brave boy
With a patriotic heart.
Billy fought his hardest
But he was in a fix.
These were guns and tanks he faced
Not childhood toys and sticks.

Now, Billy was no coward,                            
But he was scared as hell.
No boy should have to bury
His comrades where they fell.
It took a thousand years
For Billy to return
And still the burning question is:
When will we ever learn?

When will this crazy world unite
And watch  each others’ back?
When  media screams  the headline:
‘GREEN MEN FROM MARS ATTACK!!!!’.

A million Billy Clarks
Have gone away to war.
Old men sit and shake their heads
They’ve seen it all before.