Names Change

Sam had joined up one morning
Though his name would not remain Sam
His sergeant would call him many things
but it changed once the fighting began

A few would call him a hero
But two would call him their son
No-one would ever call him daddy
Not once the fighting’s begun

An easier life than back home, he’d read
Within weeks he’d be marching through France
A boy with a gun is a man they’d said
just point it and shoot to advance

The enemy eat babies they’d told him
He believed them and why should he not?
He was perfectly willing to take the kings shilling
But soon his would wish he had not.

The fields of France were no picnic
What with the bullets and all
But the enemy ate babies they’d told him
And he believed, as he watched his friends fall

The trenches were cold wet and miserable
The bullets flew thick night and day
The shelling was constant and terrible
And peace was a long dream away

It would all be over by Christmas
That’s what they told them back home
but home was not here and they could not hear
the screams and the bombs and the fear

As parts of his friends fell about him
The screaming of all filled his ears
Sam prayed to his God to spare him
Or at least make it all dissapear

A dignified death was denied him
But death indeed he did gain
And Sam was just one amongst many
To die in the mud with his name

John Doe he is now amongst thousands
And thousands of comrade in arms
Row upon row upon row upon row
Upon row upon row of Johns Doe.