The Eternal Soldier

The Eternal Soldier

By Mark Vine
WarPoetry.co.uk
November 11, 2015

I am the eternal soldier; I’m there when you need me,
Fighting for your liberties, down every century.

Standing on the front-line, bleeding for your cause,
Just a name on a memorial, at which you never pause.

I halted the Armada, stood my ground at Marston Moor,
I was in the line at Minden, and I heard the Zulu roar,
I was in the square at Waterloo, and fought the fearless Boers,
And I was gassed in the trenches of the war to end all wars …….

I piloted a Spitfire, stormed the beach at Normandy,
Froze to death in Korea, and I yomped to Port Stanley,
I was bombed to hell in Basra, under fire in old Kabul,
I am a deadly Exocet, a politician’s tool.

Yet all I ask is wages, and three square meals a day,
To lay my life upon the line, to live in harms way.

But it’s the same old story, when your victory is won,
Then I’m just an embarrassment, with a loaded gun.

And the debt is soon forgotten, when the nightmares come to call,
When each night I hear my best friend scream and helpless, watch him fall,

I’m told to snap out of it, I’m told big boys don’t cry,
And I’m left to drink myself to death and on a cold street die.

I halted the Armada, stood my ground at Marston Moor,
I was in the line at Minden and I heard the Zulu roar,
I was in the square at Waterloo and fought the fearless Boers,
And I was gassed in the trenches of the war to end all wars …….

I piloted a Spitfire, stormed the beach at Normandy
Froze to death in Korea and I yomped to Port Stanley,
I was bombed to hell in Basra, under fire in old Kabul,
I am a deadly Exocet, a politician’s tool.

I march on your decision, anywhere in this wide world,
In places where our flag had no right to be unfurled.

And I’m not asking for riches, I want nothing for free,
The only thing I’m asking for, Is a measure of dignity.

For I am the eternal soldier; I’m there when you need me,
Fighting for your conscience, down every century.

And I’m standing on the front-line, bleeding for your cause,
Just a name on a memorial, at which you never pause.

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/RemembranceB.htm#The_Eternal