Ashes All Fall Down

She wrapped me up in Sunday best, gently took my hand And smiling, pinned the medals, I didn't understand I loved the smell of leather seats in the fancy car we rode I gazed at rows of grandpas, crying in the snow I didn't meet the soldiers, but I heard the trumpets blast And I could smell the rifle smoke, when everything had passed I ran under the tables, packed with endless plates No one cared how much I played, or how much I ate With all my favourite cousins, we chanted spinning round Ashes, Ashes, all fall down Huddled in veins of trenches, discarded shapes of men Playing cards and telling tales, some never speak again A silent blanket fell, with a cold that scrapes your bones As we awaited for the signal, to fight for loves left home The whistle screamed, through mud we ran, familiar rifle smoke The stench of blood and wheezing sulphur, throttled every throat A blast of white, a piercing ring, like a thousand shattered plates Brothers strewn in muddy death, choked by hands of fate And the final thing I saw, as I lay broken on the ground Was, Ashes, Ashes, All fall down A troop of weathered statues, veiled in coats of black Empty seats for brothers, who never made it back Tears run down my shoulder, As I bear his broken wife She clutches tight the medals, of the man who saved my life Who dragged me to the trenches, Certain death be damned I remember my grandfather, and now I understand The hearts of all his kinsmen, saluting him goodbye The medals pinned upon me, that made my mother cry That the sacrifice for loved ones, is all that truly counts For in the breeze we're all just Ashes Ashes All fall down