SHADOWS

Mommy! Mommy! If their daddy leaves they will be all alone
Tell him Mommy what is this bad thing their daddy calls war?
After fifty years might not they be at that same fork again?
Does he hear those little footsteps coming down the hall?

He sees her crying so softly, while all alone
Surely she must be the sweetest angel of them all,
As her tears come tumbling softly down her little face
Tell her Daddy must you go off to war?

Now once more he sees those tiny shadows on the wall
That night as she knelt beside her bed to pray
Mommy and he and little brother need their daddy Mommy says,
Why won't you tell him why their daddy must go to war?

Dreams so many memories now return of those olden days
They come back to haunt and taunt him still today.
For those many foolish things that he has done before
As he sees once again those tiny shadows on the wall.

He can hear the distant rumbling of cannon fire
So many bodies racked with pain and broken dreams.
So many men from across their nation rush to the battle cry,
And he will see once again those precious shadows on the wall.