Although we in the US honor those who served in the Armed Forces today — and well we should, for such service is both honorable and laudable — we should by no means forget that originally here, and elsewhere broad even today, this day is remembered as the end of World War 1. They called it the great War and it was the great catastrophe, butchering an entire generation of young boys across the continents for no reason other than damn-fool politicians’ mutual pride and lust for domination. Millions dead for Serbian pride, Austrian pride, Russian pride, German pride, French pride, British pride, Wilson’s arrogance! Studying this war taught me to question war in general and and especially to hate the modern state that grows from every drop of spilled blood.
So here’s to all the young men who were destroyed, to their families who grieved — to us stupid fools who never learn the lesson those countless white crosses strain to teach.
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside,
And I’ll rest for a while in the warm summer sun?
I’ve been walkin’ all day long, and I’m nearly done.
I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916
Well, I hope you died quick, and I hope you died clean,
Or Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
Chorus:
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’ ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined?
And though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you always 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown, leather frame?
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’ ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing The Last Post in chorus?
Well the sun’s shining now on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plough
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that’s still No Man’s Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man’s blind indifference to his fellow man,
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’ ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing The Last Post in chorus?
And I can’t help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here, know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you ‘The Cause?’
You really believe that this war would end wars?
The suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame,
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again!
Did they beat the drums slowly,
Did they sound the fife lowly,
Did the rifles fire o’ ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?
Reading Freely 
Thank you for sharing this lovely tribute to those who gave their lives in a senseless war.
Ever since I stumbled upon this poem/song in a magazine, I’ve been moved by it.
A Beautiful tribute and I agree with your introduction. I truly think the best way to Remember and Honour fallen soldiers is to take actions that prevent all future wars ♥