Old Comrades Poem by James Bredin

Many of my old comrades in arms, are now long dead,
Names written in my memories and stories no longer said,
At association meetings where memories are fading fast,
And I sometimes wonder, how much longer these good times will last.

I'm sorry to even say this but soon enough I too will be dead,
And you will too and it might even be you first, instead,
We just don't know the score, the when, the where or the why,
But we have no death-with-dignity when we lie down to die.

But we do have democracy, they often announce,
While binding referendums is something else they denounce,
We just have no political influence where it should count,
And if we do, it's a small insignificant amount.