1916

Sixteen years old

When I went to the War

To fight for a land fit for heroes

God on my side

And a gun in my hand

Chasing my days down to zero

And I marched, and I fought

And I bled, and I died

And I never did get any older

But I knew at the time

That a year in the line

Was a long enough life for a soldier

We all volunteered

And we wrote down our names

And we added two years to our ages

Eager for life

And ahead of the game

Ready for history's pages

And we brawled, and we fought

And we hoarded to be stuped

Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder

At thirst for the Hun

We were food for the gun

And that's what you are when you're soldiers

I heard my friend cry

As he sank to his knees

Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother

And I fell by his side

And that's how we died

Clinging like kids to each other

And I lay in the mud, and the guts and the blood

And I wept as his body grew colder

And I called for my mother, and she never came

Though it wasn't my fault, and I wasn't to blame

The day not half over, and ten thousand slain

And now there's nobody remembers our names

And that's how it is

For each soldier