In a remote place of safety, leaders declare their instructions.
Generals order these commands, to wreak havoc, death and destruction.
This ageless, timeless madness is once again repeated.
With no mercy or compassion until the enemy’s defeated

Through smoke filled skies a blinding light
With deafening blasts echoing throughout the night
Buried in rubble an injured child cries.
A mother seeking shelter can find nowhere to hide.

Displaced desolate families, witness schools and hospitals ravaged.
While innocent children slaughtered are sadly deemed as collateral damage.
Doctors and nurses toil endlessly to save many shattered lives.
With no provisions, fuel or medicine, they pray some can survive.

A soldier may be victorious, but he will never truly win.
If leaders send him somewhere else to do it all again
Greed, wrath and tyranny often raises its ugly head.
And the true cost as always, will be the mourning of our dead.

The resonating beauty of a poppy in full bloom
Will forever embody the memory of those we lost too soon.
Old soldiers in their finest have earned our gratitude and respect.
We must learn from their sacrifice and vow never to forget.