Martin “Marty” Boyce

PAID BY INSTALLMENTS

A soldier pays for battles past in a myriad of ways
one thing is sure there is a price that every soldier pays
Some veterans say the ones who died are lucky to a man
for the others suffer many years, the war gods payment plan

Young men in their prime of life, it is they who fight our wars
with promises of glory they will rally to the cause
while governments all promise that their deaths are not in vain
the survivors join the payment plan when peace is here again

Their youth is their deposit, non refundable of course
they’re told the enemy is evil and he must be met with force
on each side of the battle is the plain and simple truth
it is old men who declare the war, the rest left to the youth

Repayments due are taken by the war gods at their whim
yet a soldier never knows when they will take their cut from him
it may be in a battle where his body takes the pain
or hidden deep for many years to resurface once again

Repayments fall at intervals throughout a soldier’s life
estranging him from family, his children and his wife
it may be at the battles end when he has time to dwell
or the horrors that will lurk within of which he cannot tell

The darkness brings the memories, the faces and the sights
and wake him from his slumber, these repayments fall each night
these memories will haunt him every day that he draws breath
He will make his final payment and finally find his peace in death