Jun 2019
Mary McDonald stands in her garden and stares at the stars in the sky’s
She thinks of her husband who’s serving in Flanders as teardrops well up in her eyes
She’s holding a rose that has started to whither remembering their wedding day
It’s only four weeks that they bequeathed their vows, now he’s fighting a war far away
Billy McDonald lays in the trenches and thinks of his beautiful bride
Then kisses her letter he reads every hour, imagining her there by his side
He can still smell her perfume and feel her embraces when he held her just one month ago
Recalling his promise that he’d always love her and forever be her lifelong beau
A shout from the Captain resounds through the trenches; the order is passed down the line
Heartbeats start racing as emotions unravel as fears of the moment untwine
This fresh faced young soldier that worked as a mill hand now waits with his pals by his side
In less than one hour he’d return from perdition where most of his buddies had died
The dark winter night air gives Mary a chill as she stands all alone in the cold
She has no way of knowing that Billy lies weeping as his thoughts of the battle unfold
He takes out the letter he’s writing to Mary and kisses the words that he’d penned
It was found in his pocket, still words left unwritten. A letter he never would send
There’s an unopened letter that stands on the sideboard with a solitary withering rose
The words it contains have never been read; its contents were never disclosed
Now Mary wears black as she stands in her garden and stares at the heavens above
And thinks of her Billy now sleeping forever, her one and her only true love
Mary McDonald stares in the mirror at a face that is ashen and gray
Her anguish reflecting the one she has lost in a land that seems so far away
She was just seventeen when she stood at the altar and married the love of her life
And now she’s his widow, no longer his bride, no longer his lover, and wife.
Billy McDonald was only eighteen when he left everything he held dear
He gave his own life that others might live in a world without trouble and fear
Mary remarried and had her own children, a boy and a girl she named Ruth
She called her son Billy, well that’s what I’ve heard and I’m sure they were telling the truth
She thinks of her husband who’s serving in Flanders as teardrops well up in her eyes
She’s holding a rose that has started to whither remembering their wedding day
It’s only four weeks that they bequeathed their vows, now he’s fighting a war far away
Billy McDonald lays in the trenches and thinks of his beautiful bride
Then kisses her letter he reads every hour, imagining her there by his side
He can still smell her perfume and feel her embraces when he held her just one month ago
Recalling his promise that he’d always love her and forever be her lifelong beau
A shout from the Captain resounds through the trenches; the order is passed down the line
Heartbeats start racing as emotions unravel as fears of the moment untwine
This fresh faced young soldier that worked as a mill hand now waits with his pals by his side
In less than one hour he’d return from perdition where most of his buddies had died
The dark winter night air gives Mary a chill as she stands all alone in the cold
She has no way of knowing that Billy lies weeping as his thoughts of the battle unfold
He takes out the letter he’s writing to Mary and kisses the words that he’d penned
It was found in his pocket, still words left unwritten. A letter he never would send
There’s an unopened letter that stands on the sideboard with a solitary withering rose
The words it contains have never been read; its contents were never disclosed
Now Mary wears black as she stands in her garden and stares at the heavens above
And thinks of her Billy now sleeping forever, her one and her only true love
Mary McDonald stares in the mirror at a face that is ashen and gray
Her anguish reflecting the one she has lost in a land that seems so far away
She was just seventeen when she stood at the altar and married the love of her life
And now she’s his widow, no longer his bride, no longer his lover, and wife.
Billy McDonald was only eighteen when he left everything he held dear
He gave his own life that others might live in a world without trouble and fear
Mary remarried and had her own children, a boy and a girl she named Ruth
She called her son Billy, well that’s what I’ve heard and I’m sure they were telling the truth
