When the fighting days are over,
And we’re finished with the fray,
When they draft us back to Dover
To be put on pension pay;
You may think we’ll be in clover
But remember this, my son,
When the fighting days are over,
Then our fight has just begun.
It is hard, there’s no disputing,
Joining up the broken thread,
When we start to seek a footing,
And to earn our daily bread;
When we find we can no longer
Occupy our former place,
And a fellow who is stronger
Canters past us in the race.
Every one who has been through it,
He’ll have many aches and pains,
Though he’ll not entirely rue it,
Since the losses have their gains;
But I pray, though times may alter
And the wheels seem whirling wrong,
That his heart may never falter
Though his legs may limp along.
And the folks who used to fete us,
Beaming on us like the sun,
There’s the chance they may forget us
When the danger days are done:
When there is no longer menace,
And they’ve found some other fad,
There may be more pangs than pennies
For a broken soldier lad.
War was this since the beginning,
While a few made ‘golden gain,’
Others had to pay for winning
Out of poverty and pain.
Ha! They used to talk of glory
In the days we donned the pack,
But it’s all a blooming story
When a lad is limping back.
‘It is rotten,’ you may say it,
But we’ve got it here to stick,
We’re the boys who have to pay it,
And we have to pay it slick.
Then, though others are in clover,
You remember this, my son,
When the fighting days are over,
Then our fight has just begun.
A poem for all the soldiers of the gamegate wars who can now finally lay down their arms to rest and peacefully reintegrate into online society... ;_;7
That's a right pretty bit of doggerel, no lie - though a little optimistic, considering the outcome.
When we look back on the conflict,
won or lost - now, who can tell?
Though our cause never be lauded,
we'll accept that just as well.
Through the streets they parade loudly,
boasting of how many fell,
Yet it is a solemn comfort,
just to say we fought like hell.
They attacked us with their legions,
without number - quite the sight!
They had every advantage,
thinking themselves in the right.
Though the ground beneath us trembled,
and the sky did lose its light,
I was very much emboldened,
when we did not take to flight.
No - we stood just as we ought to,
knowing what we had to lose.
For if they were to triumph,
and then dictate as they choose,
The land which did so raise us,
yet furthermore abused,
and scarcely recognizable,
awash with bleating ewes.
(That's all I have for now, anyway).
