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Robert W Service - Michael
Work rating: Medium

"There`s something in your face, Michael, I`ve seen it all the day;
There`s something quare that wasn`t there when first ye wint away. . . ."

"It`s just the Army life, mother, the drill, the left and right,
That puts the stiffinin` in yer spine and locks yer jaw up tight. . . ."

"There`s something in your eyes, Michael, an` how they stare and stare —
You`re lookin` at me now, me boy, as if I wasn`t there. . . ."

"It`s just the things I`ve seen, mother, the sights that come and come,
A bit o` broken, bloody pulp that used to be a chum. . . ."

"There`s something on your heart, Michael, that makes ye wake at night,
And often when I hear ye moan, I trimble in me fright. . . ."

"It`s just a man I killed, mother, a mother`s son like me;
It seems he`s always hauntin` me, he`ll never let me be. . . ."

"But maybe he was bad, Michael, maybe it was right
To kill the inimy you hate in fair and honest fight. . . ."

"I did not hate at all, mother; he never did me harm;
I think he was a lad like me, who worked upon a farm. . . ."

"And what`s it all about, Michael; why did you have to go,
A quiet, peaceful lad like you, and we were happy so? . . ."

"It`s thim that`s up above, mother, it`s thim that sits an` rules;
We`ve got to fight the wars they make, it`s us as are the fools. . . ."

"And what will be the end, Michael, and what`s the use, I say,
Of fightin` if whoever wins it`s us that`s got to pay? . . ."

"Oh, it will be the end, mother, when lads like him and me,
That sweat to feed the ones above, decide that we`ll be free. . . ."

"And when will that day come, Michael, and when will fightin` cease,
And simple folks may till their soil and live and love in peace? . . ."

"It`s coming soon and soon, mother, it`s nearer every day,
When only men who work and sweat will have a word to say;
When all who earn their honest bread in every land and soil
Will claim the Brotherhood of Man, the Comradeship of Toil;
When we, the Workers, all demand: `What are we fighting for?` . . .
Then, then we`ll end that stupid crime, that devil`s madness — War."
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