River Somme

The rum and the whistle, then over the top
Facing the barbed wire and steel
Cut down like wheat, before the reaper
A new century revealed

We all found the God that we needed
Forged in the brotherhood of fear
Guns spitting fire, hotter than hades
Screams of death in our ears

We didn’t fight for King or for country
Not one soldier, not a one
Was the man on our right and the man on our left
That’s why the fighting was done
That’s why we fell at the River Somme
Why we fell at the River Somme
(tens of thousands at the River Somme)

We came from the mines, we came from the fields
We came from green Highland Hills
Giving it all for our brothers beside us
Giving thanks when guns had gone still

Some got to return to their girls or family
Lived to hold them again
But too many lie here in unmarked places
Only flowers remain