All Men They Once Were Boys Poem by Francis Duggan

They played war games with their plastic make believe guns in their time of toys
And they were young boys then and boys will be boys
Yet years later their wars are not games but for real
And the bullets that will kill them in their grief their kin will feel.

When I see school going children playing their war games to myself I only say
They are preparing for the real World where they may live their dreams one day
They may fight their wars in Foreign Lands where dreams of peace did fade
And be brought home in a body bag or come home to a big parade.

The Nation's flag does fly at half mast when we honour the war dead
But honour and praise won't bring them back to life since words are easily said
The children who play their war games in the school yard one day may fight in a real war
And may become traumatized and till death carry war's lasting mental scar.

They may play war games with their toy guns but a wise old woman once told me
That for ourselves we have the power to create our own reality
And the soldiers of the future play war games with plastic toys
But one day they will have real guns for all men they once were boys.