Too young to vote, old enough to die…

He stood there so still, terrified like the rest
In this one single moment their short lives compressed
The order came then, ‘right lads — over the top’
He saw so many, many bodies just drop.
He was sixteen, too young yet to even vote
Chances of that now seemed so remote
He didn’t understand politics anyway
He just tried so hard to reach the end of each day.
The madness around him, that cordite smell
He watched while tank crews got burnt all to Hell
If he could vote he couldn’t have voted for this
His last thought, then a bullet didn’t miss.
He lies here now with comrades, so many
Used by politicians like they were ten-a-penny
But we will remember him, aye, and the rest
Who laid down their lives as they gave of their best.