FEW COME BACK

 

I WATCHED THEM, NO LONGER YOUNG, THOSE WHO ANSWERED THE CALL
A SOBER, SOMBER REMINDER, THE ONES WHO GAVE THEIR ALL
TEARS AND SWEAT HAD ETCHED THEIR FACE, THE LEGACY OF THE PAST
BUT DREAMS AND HOPES OF YESTERDAY, THEY KNEW THAT WOULD NOT LAST

EYES FOREVER SQUINTING, FROM THE SUN’S BRIGHT GLARE
LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD, WITH THAT FAR OFF STARE
FOR MANKIND IN HIS FOLLY, WILL BLINDLY FOLLOW DREAMS
BUT WHEN THE TOLL IS COUNTED, IT’S NEVER AS IT SEEMS

LEST WE FORGET, THE TOLL, THEY PAID
FOR THEIR NIGHTMARES WILL NEVER FADE
COUNTLESS LINES THAT ONCE TURNED RED
A MINUTE’S SILENCE, FOR THE DEAD

FOR THOSE WHO RALLY, OUR NATIONS YOUTH, RARELY PAY THEIR PRICE
THE ONLY COMMON OUTCOME, MORTAL SACRIFICE
FACES LONG FORGOTTEN, ARE NOW PART OF LORE
MANY WILL STAND ON THE BRINK OF HELL, BUT FEW COME BACK FROM WAR

 

 

By Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton
29 April 2003

 

 

 

 

FILE PHOTO: PTSD unmasked – subject Trooper David Nicholson – makeup by Ambah de Smet – photography by Justin Marshall, JM Photography.

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