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Michael

"There's something in your face, Michael, I've seen it all the day;

There's something quare that wasn't there when first ye wint away. . . ."

"It's just the Army life, mother, the drill, the left and right,

That puts the stiffinin' in yer spine and locks yer jaw up tight. . . ."

"There's something in your eyes, Michael, an' how they stare and stare -

You're lookin' at me now, me boy, as if I wasn't there. . . ."

"It's just the things I've seen, mother, the sights that come and come,

A bit o' broken, bloody pulp that used to be a chum. . . ."

"There's something on your heart, Michael, that makes ye wake at night,

And often when I hear ye moan, I trimble in me fright. . . ."

"It's just a man I killed, mother, a mother's son like me;

It seems he's always hauntin' me, he'll never let me be. . . ."

"But maybe he was bad, Michael, maybe it was right

To kill the inimy you hate in fair and honest fight. . . ."

"I did not hate at all, mother; he never did me harm;

I think he was a lad like me, who worked upon a farm. . . ."

"And what's it all about, Michael; why did you have to go,

A quiet, peaceful lad like you, and we were happy so? . . ."

"It's thim that's up above, mother, it's thim that sits an' rules;

We've got to fight the wars they make, it's us as are the fools. . . ."

"And what will be the end, Michael, and what's the use, I say,

Of fightin' if whoever wins it's us that's got to pay? . . ."

"Oh, it will be the end, mother, when lads like him and me,

That sweat to feed the ones above, decide that we'll be free. . . ."

"And when will that day come, Michael, and when will fightin' cease,

And simple folks may till their soil and live and love in peace? . . ."

"It's coming soon and soon, mother, it's nearer every day,

When only men who work and sweat will have a word to say;

When all who earn their honest bread in every land and soil

Will claim the Brotherhood of Man, the Comradeship of Toil;

When we, the Workers, all demand: 'What are we fighting for?' . . .

Then, then we'll end that stupid crime, that devil's madness - War."