For Thy Country

When you are a boy
They take you away
When you are a boy
They teach you how to fight
But they say you're still a boy at 18

It may be just
An ordinary day
But then the mailman comes
To give an ordinary letter
It tells you
That they
Are taking you away
From all you've known

You go into a training camp
Are taught to shoot, kill, to fight
To have a heart of steel
As your enemies are killed

Why must the young do the fighting for the old
Why must the young die for politicians' mistakes
Why must we all sacrifice ourselves
For a cause we do not believe in

They equip us,
Tell us to fight
But what they really do
Is send us to die

The final moments of our lives
Are spent
Remembering
That we are dying
For someone else's beef
With someone else's belief
Of someone else's enemy

And then they tell us;
It is for the country you die

But it is not for the country
That we wish to die for