Salute

The fighting is over, the battle is done

The boots are marching away

“Come on, let’s go” they all now say

But you still lay there on the ground

For you have paid the real price

Those back home, alive and well,

Little know that your death knell

Has tolled this final sacrifice

And all the tears that they will weep

And all the stories they will share

About you and them and when and where

Will not awake you from this sleep

For it was us you died to save

So I, the free, salute you now,

The brave