I went to the National Arboretum
And felt my blood run cold
At all those wasted lives
Who had no chance of growing old.

The grass was green where I walked
Which their eyes will never see
For they all gave up their lives
To fight for peace and me.

Thousands of names, which stretched
From wall to wall
Men and women and children too
I couldn’t read them all.

They shot him where he stood
He did not deserve to die
For he was just a boy
Who knew not the reason why.

‘Shot at dawn’ the memorial said
But who’s left to tell us why?
For the families of those boys out there
Had no time to say ‘Goodbye’.

Ninety years have passed us by
Since Passchendaele was fought
But looking at that wall today
What was the lesson taught?

From the Battle of the Somme
To the boys of Alamein
The debt we owe them all
Can’t take away their loved ones’ pain.

Two hundred years since the slavery law
And still man is slave to man
May God bring freedom to the world
For I’m not sure if we can.