Marching once again under a myriad of stars Young men to the cause where all is fair in love and war But rules are rules, and no mercy can be shown In the fields of the departed where history is born
In all the lines and prose of war and its ways The words that speak the loudest are the ones that you would never say From Arras to the Somme and the hell of Passchendaele For ninety years and counting since you told your bloody tale
Chorus: Hey, soldier boy, is your conscience clear? Is your mind on the road from hell and back to the one you love so dear? I know you live in constant fear And that's just the way the world seems through roses and tears
When the battle cries no more, and the martyr's work is done Did the voices in your head tell you to walk along the pathway Of the righteous and the good, and leave it all behind In the fields of the departed with the remnants of your mind?
(Chorus)
Through roses and tears Through roses and tears Roses and tears
So saddle up the horses and tighten up the reins Face the bitter winds of tyranny and shame We blind ourselves with grace and favors of the heart So our minds can hide away in the darkness of our past