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Blood Brothers In Arms

from Black & White & Read All Over by Ian Whiteley

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lyrics

Blood Brothers In Arms

My uncle Jack nearly died
in the battle of the Somme.
Crawling from his trench
he was the victim of the bomb
that threw him in the air
and killed his brother, Tom.

Deafened by the blast
and blinded by the mud
he lay upon the battlefield
drowning in his blood,
praying God would save him
as only his God could.

But the gods were looking elsewhere
and didn’t hear his cry,
so it was left to a soldier
to go out there and try
to save Jack where he lay wounded
waiting patiently to die.

Jack saw the muddied face
and heard the muffled tone
and he gripped the gloved hand
and with a wrenching moan
he was dragged from the shell hole
and would not, that day, die alone.

Six weeks in the hospital
and Jack was on his feet,
despite the shrapnel scars
he was so eager to meet
the soldier who had saved him
and thank him for the feat.

In walked private Khan
with cloth wrapped around his head
and the smile that Jack remembered
when he thought he was surely dead -
and though their skins were different colours
their wounds were both bright red.

Soldiers died upon the Somme
of every race and creed.
for Death does not distinguish
and War does not take heed
of the bigoted fallacy
that only white men bleed.

So when you see the racists
and hear the oft repeated lie
that only the English suffered
and only the English die -
remember that the poppy’s scarlet
and then remember why.

credits

from Black & White & Read All Over, released January 1, 2019

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