The Queen sits in her palace
Reading a James Bond novel,
The wounded Veteran down the road
Huddles in his one bedroomed hovel.
God Bless You Ma'am, he mutters
Through his despair and his pain,
Long may ye prosper
And Long may ye to reign.
I took the shilling of your service
When scarce more than a lad,
Served more than twenty years
In the good times and the bad.
I went to Bosnia and Iraq
Then on to Afghanistan
And somewhere along the way
I became a broken man.
And so they discharged me
With very little thanks
Just hand in your kit
You're no longer in the ranks.
No attempt at consolation
No attempt at any care
No guidance towards helping
With my anguish and despair.
I wonder if you know Ma'am
The way they turn their backs
With callous disinterest when
A serving soldier finally cracks.
It's just a minimum pay out,
Be off and on your way,
You'll be in our mind
Every single Poppy Day.
He loses his community,
He colleagues and his friends,
Cast out on his own when for
Whatever reason his service ends.
And yet he's fiercely loyal, Ma'am, thinks
Of the glory days that may have seen
And in spite of an ungrateful government
Still stands for “God Save The Queen.”
