Remembrance

For King, flag and country they took to the field

For Kaiser and Sultan they snatched up their guns

For Tsar and for Emperor they readied their cannon

For freedom and glory they pounded the drums

For France and for Belgium the Entente declared

No German or Austrian the Channel would sight

The Tsar of the Russias swore his Slavic brothers

Would be beholden no longer to the Habsburg Duke’s might

The Germans for their part defended the honour

Of their Austrian cousins whose son had been slain

Austria-Hungary readied its armies

For the death of an Archduke, now bloodshed would reign

Uncle Sam and his legions came late to the fray

The Italian Prime Minister switched sides at the last

The Ottoman Empire was wooed by the Germans

The Balkans rose up against their Austrian past

The fighting was bitter; the casualties many

Sixteen million lives were snuffed out in the war

Four Empires were shattered; the others were crippled

The balance of power was balanced no more

What did they fight for, those bravest of soldiers?

For what did they struggle through barbed wire and shells?

What reason could send seventy million men

To risk their lives and their futures for four years of Hell?

Some fought for freedom; against oppression and empire

Some fought for justice and a world free of fear

Some fought for their families, to safeguard their future

Some fought for the countries that they held so dear

Some fought out of shame if they didn’t contribute

Some fought because their governments told them they must

Perhaps the bravest of all, did not fight at all

But stood up for their principles in the face of disgust

They each were lied to, those valiant warriors

Each man and each woman who stood up and risked death

There was no free world at the end of the struggle

Victor and vanquished; neither tasted success

No worker in London or Paris or Rome

Gained freedom from toil or protection from harm

No peasant in Hungary or France or in Poland

Gained the land or the bread for which he had borne arms

The Revolution in Russia – so much hope at the outset

Quickly dissolved into killing and lies

And no Treaty could bring back the 3 million innocents

Lost in the genocide the Turkish denied

And lest we forget, the war settled nothing

Versailles was a stitch-up, the peace was a fake

Twenty years later the fighting restarted

And another 85 million went to their graves

The Middle East was carved up by imperial powers

Now we see the results of this spelled out in blood

100 years later we cannot escape it

The sins of the fathers are the deaths of the sons

So then, my friends, my brothers and sisters

My comrades in peace, though pray never in war

Let us remember, this dreary November

The dead then and since – but do not be fooled

War is not and is never a glorious thing

And freedom is rarely the prize at the peace

So when political leaders extoll conflict’s virtues

Just keep in your minds who fights for whose needs

And though sometimes a war can be grim but be just

And to sit and do nothing may not be the remedy

Always be wary when the battle-horns sound

And remember – who is the real enemy?