drums and fifes
.........



The drums they beat
and the fifes did play
when we saw them off
to war that day

and the waving flags
from the cheering crowd
and the marching music
made us feel proud

when we saw them off
to war that day
when the drums they beat
and the fifes did play

........

But that was then
and this is now
and the dead return
and we’re asking how

and we’re asking why
the truth is kept
from the grieving nation
and the ones who wept

when we saw them off
to war that day
when the drums they beat
and the fifes did play

...............

So now when this war
is not yet won
where is my kin
with his blasted gun

that you promised would free
the folks at home
from the terror beneath
the pointed dome

as we saw them off
on that cur-sed day
when the fifes and drums
so mocking played

.......
.........

Now is the tyme of their return
in covered gaudy cloth
cold and silent
lying sterile from
Allah’s wrath

i see my brother descending
in desert depth far away
i’ll not see him again
perhaps another day

i saw him off with tears
as fifes played
and drums beat
on that day
as they marched away
into the mist
the pibroch lonely lilting as
he disappeared..........

if battles are lost
or perhaps won
a coloured rag is a
poor substitute
for a fallen son..

Graham...april...2004