I Wasn't There

I wasn't there to feel your pain

To watch you lie in mud and rain

I cant imagine what you saw

How you wished for home I am sure

There is no way I can ever know

How often you let your tears flow

To think of what you gave inside

I wear my poppy, wear it with pride

I wasn't there as you crawled

When you hoped the war had finally stalled

I can never know what you felt each day

The pain that never went away

Crawling from trench to trench

In slides of mud and nauseous stench

I was not there to see the tears you cried

So I wear my poppy, wear it with pride

The smile on your face as a letter arrived

And a reply that told your loved ones you had survived

After all these years you are still here to tell

But your lips are sealed about the war, the hell

I cant believe that one day people might forget

The heroes, the brave, the ones we never met

I will tell my children about the people who died

And will tell them to wear their poppies with pride

Because I was not there I can never understand

What it must have been like to hold a dying mans hand

To watch their life just fade away

Knowing it could be you today

So each year I think of the life I live

Remember those that their life did give

Just to give me the chance to breathe and survive

I will always wear my poppy with pride

©Sonofdel2014