The Soldier Poem by Christopher Tye

The Soldier

We were conscripted by the thousands,
To fight in foreign lands against enemies we don't know,
To fight for king and country was our duty,
So many of us left to never return.

Across the world we went with our regiments,
From Flanders fields to the beaches of Gallipoli,
From the beaches of Dunkirk to the assault on Monte Cassino,
From the jungles of Burma to the cold winters of Korea.

Those of us who returned were never the same,
After the horrors we have witnessed,
The comrades we had to leave behind,
All in the name of king and country,
At the call of our governments.

So many of us never returned,
Lists of names on war memorials across the world,
Vast cemeteries and mass graves,
For us this is the price of war.

By Christopher Tye