The Song Was Wordless; The Singing Will

I Am A Soldier, Convinced That I Am Acting On Behalf Of Soldiers.

You Smug-faced Crowds With Kindling Eye Who Cheer When Soldier Lads March By, Sneak Home And Pray You'll Never Know The Hell Where Youth And Laughter Go.

Across The Land A Faint Blue Veil Of Mist Seems Hung; The Woods Wear Yet Arrayment Sober Till Frost Shall Make Them Flame; Silent And Whist The Drooping Cherry Orchards Of October Like Mournful Pennons Hang Their Shriveling Leaves Russet And Orange: All Things Now Decay; Long Since Ye Garnered In Your Autumn Sheaves, And Sad The Robins Pipe At Set Of Day.

And It's Been Proved That Soldiers Don't Go Mad Unless They Lose Control Of Ugly Thoughts That Drive Them Out To Jabber Among The Trees.

I Am Making This Statement As An Act Of Wilful Defiance Of Military Authority, Because I Believe That The War Is Being Deliberately Prolonged By Those Who Have The Power To End It. I Am A Soldier, Convinced That I Am Acting On Behalf Of Soldiers. I Believe That This War, On Which I Entered As A War Of Defence And Liberation, Has Now Become A War Of Aggression And Conquest.