Loving a soldier is not always gay
For with a price you must pay
It’s mostly loving but not to hold
It’s being young and feeling old
It’s sending a letter with an upside stamp,
To a faraway lover in a faraway camp

Being in love with merely your dreams
Brings thoughts of heaven with love light gleams
It’s having him whisper his love for you
And whispering back that you love him too
Then comes a kiss, a promise of love
Knowing you’re watched by the God above
Reluctantly, painfully, letting him go
When you’re crying inside, wanting him so
The days go by, no mail for a spell
And you wait for word that he is well
And when letters come, you shiver with joy
And act like a child with a new toy

It’s loving a soldier, the boy you adore
And hating the world, yourself, and the war
And it’s going to church to kneel down and pray
And really mean the things you say
And though you know he’s far away
You love him more and more each day

Loving a soldier is bitterness and tears
Its loneliness, sadness and well-founded fears
No loving a soldier is no fun
But it’s worth the price when the battle is won

Given to Mrs Bevan in 1952