....To End All Wars

They grew up together,
he'd known her all his life,
watched her changing from a child
and knew she’d be his wife.

Too young to make that solemn vow,
agreeing they would wait;
they made their plans for marrying
and set an April date.

Then war broke out across the sea
the whole world taking part.
First soldiers went, then all young men
and with him went her heart

He fought horrendous battles
always carrying her love,
lying in the trenches
with bombs bursting up above

Surrounded by the carnage
he managed to stay calm
knowing he would have her
once more on his arm.

Wounded by some shrapnel
he lay blinded and in pain,
he wept at the injustice
of never seeing her again.

She went to meet the ship that bought
her lover home once more.
Anticipation turned to dread
as the wounded came ashore

She took his hand so he would know
that she was standing near.
He drew away and turned his face
to her it looked like fear.

Scars had changed his handsome looks
and gas had wrecked his chest.
She still could see the soul of him
the part she loved the best,

but he was now a different man,
silent and withdrawn.
Nightmares shook him every night,
awake, he'd pray for dawn.

Yet daylight did not reassure
or take away his guilt,
so many of his friends had died
and he had not been killed.

To her it was a god-send that
her lover had not died
but all this broken man could do
was think of suicide.

He drank to block the memories,
to try and feel again
but nothing seemed to be the thing
to take away his pain.

One night he took his service gun,
she was upstairs in bed,
he loaded it and took his life,
a bullet to the head.

Wars decreed by distant men
still rage on today
and young men in the prime of life
are yet the ones that pay.