Born in 1896. I was seventeen
When the Guns of August lofted their first shell
I took the King's shilling, got a uniform and rifle
And three years of continental hell

Wounded once in Belgium, a second time in France
Nine million men were worse off than me
I spent some time in Paris but a lot more in the mud
With the phosgene and the dead for company

Grace my love walked with me for almost 50 years
And held me strong to everything we did
I don't have much to do except to watch the world
So much has changed since I was a lad

The War To End All Wars brought peace for barely twenty years
Old grievances festered through it all
By then I was too old to fight, my children were too young
So we survived. Others answered the call

The aching in my shoulder foretells the coming rain
The puckered skin reminds me of the past
Time seems to move slower the older I become
And the days pass each one like the last

They sold us propaganda. They sell it to us still
The game's the same, but different players play
I was born in 1896.
The guns have never silenced since that day