My brothers and me, we liked to play war
A great way to fight with no blood and the gore
With sticks as our guns and pine cones for grenades
We would fight and do battle in brave lightening raids!

We’d play this as part of our Saturday fun
The toughest would conquer with a fashioned stick gun
With cries of “you’re dead’’ we’d declare to our foe
Riddled with bullets but no blood on show

Those days were such fun and enjoyed by us all
But soon came time when we would no longer go
To play war with our friends cos it just wasn’t done
To have a stick in your hand in place of a gun

As time flew on by we all left our safe nest
And my brothers and me joined up with the best
They trained us and drilled us as soldiers for real
And gave us a gun as part of the deal

Now fighting and war were not games played for fun
For bullets and death came out the front of our guns
The bombs that exploded could kill and could maim
This now was the real thing and not a boy’s game

No pretending to be wounded and bravely fighting on
Those days of these games where now a long time gone
No mum to call you home when your tea time had come
It was bully beef and biscuits and a wee shot of rum

The rules of the new game were different and cold
The enemy want to kill you us soldiers were told
Keep your eyes peeled young soldier the officer said
When you’re shot you’ll be shot and when you’re dead you’ll be dead

We huddle in trenches wanting the shelling to stop
Dreading the whistle telling us to go over the top
Heading into battle our stomachs would churn
And for many a friend there wound be no return

And huddled together, freezing bone and our core
I would think of those days when we loved to play war
And how now that same game was not so much fun
How I longed for my stick game instead of this gun

As young as we are we are in a mans war
Our innocence gone we are children no more
Brave soldiers who deliver death with a gun
But when dying or wounded call out for our mums

I long for the day when I can again return home
And pray that this journey is not done alone
For my brothers are with me and feel just the same
This war is not fun and it isn’t a game