Your Country Needs You
The pointy finger poster said,
Leave civvie life and
Join the Army instead.
No need to be a regular,
It's only for the duration
Come and do your bit
For a grateful nation.
Come and join the Pals
Stand by your mate
It's such bulldog behaviour that
Made Great Bitain great.
All be over by Christmas
If we do it well
And, think of this me boys,
You'll have some tales to tell.
'Twas Lord Liverpool's idea
But he didn't have to fight
Sat in the House of Lords
Slept abed every night
So they came by their thousands
From city and village and town
To see the recruiting Sergeant
And get their names down.
And they marched off at the jolly
Seldom showing any care
Leaving terrace avenue and street
With scarce a young man there.
And the families left behind
Paid the dreadful cost
In the many thousands
Of their loved ones lost.
And it wasn't over by Christmas
Even though they did it well,
Just four long years of
Carnage and hell.
And when lt came to its end,
That War To End All War,
The Treaty of Versailles laid
The basis for many more.
There was no land fit for heroes
After that evil bloody game
Just back to the status quo
With things back just same.
The Flanders Field poppy
Scarlet blood red
Is still worn today in memory
Of those many wasted dead.
In memory of Jack Harrison, VC
Gave his life for his friends, Oppy Wood 3rd May 1917
