Of War Heroes

Of war heroes so much is written and said But for every living war hero there are a thousand war dead And dead heroes and dead villians they all are the same They will not hear you speak when you mention them by name. The living coward is of more value than the one who died brave At least he's alive he is not in the grave For humanity there is nothing that the dead can do Though a living coward he may be one to help you. Dead war heroes are honoured in story and song Perhaps we have got our priorities wrong 'Tis said they died for freedom and we believed the lie For freedom as such how can anyone die? For the right to live is a basic human right And freedom is not to die for but for to fight On the flag-posts the patriot flags in the wind flying And for to cling to power the politicians keep lying. The war dead are honoured on war memorial day And the politicians to honour them patriotic things say But the dead as we know from their graves we will not raise With kind words about them or songs in their praise. It may be said of them that in life they were brave But the dead war heroes are quiet in their grave And the narcissistic politicians their praises do sing They know how to win votes and to power they must cling.