The green shoots…the verdant sprigs of youth…
Of seeds sown by our hard pressed mothers.
Not yet matured…not fully ready,
The young depart before their prime.

When there is ripening that is the time…
Not for the shoots to be quick laid low.
Young soldiers then to their maturation…
Need time to grow and reach their peak.

Politicians, who vaingloriously seek
To raise their profiles…and to make
Their worldly mark, send forth our young
To foreign lands…their wars to fight.

Lo! Is there ne’er a more dreadful sight
Than to see our youth futilely slain?
The cutting down…now early started …
The harvest has come much too soon.