Forgotten Sons

Armalite, street lights, nightsights Searching the roofs for a sniper, a viper, a fighter Death in the shadows he'll maim you, he'll wound you, he'll kill you For a long forgotten cause, on not so foreign shores Boys baptised in wars Morphine, chill scream, bad dream Serving as numbers on dogtags, flakrags, sandbags Your girl has married your best friend, loves end, poison pen Your flesh will always creep, tossing turning sleep The wounds that burn so deep Your mother sits on the edge of the world When the cameras start to roll Panoramic viewpoint resurrect the killing fold Your father drains another beer, he's one of the few that cares Crawling behind a Saracen's hull from the safety of his living room chair Forgotten sons, forgotten sons, forgotten sons And so as I patrol in the valley of the shadow of the tricolour I must fear evil, for I am but mortal and mortals can only die Asking questions, pleading answers from the nameless faceless watchers That stalk the carpeted corridors of Whitehall Who orders desecration, mutilation, verbal masturbation I in the guarded bureaucratic wombs Minister, minister care for your children, order them not into damnation To eliminate those who would trespass against you For whose is the kingdom, the power, the glory forever and ever, Amen Halt who goes there, Death, approach friend You're just another coffin on its way down the emerald aisle When your children's stony glances mourn your death in a terrorist's smile The bomber's arm placing fiery gifts on the supermarket shelves Alley sings with shrapnel detonate a temporary hell Forgotten Sons From the dole queue to the regiment a profession in a flash But remember Monday signings when from door to door you dash On the news a nation mourns you unknown soldier, count the cost For a second you'll be famous but labelled posthumous Forgotten sons, forgotten sons Peace on earth and mercy mild, Mother Brown has lost her child Just another Forgotten Son