"Butcher's Bill"

The butcher’s bill is high today,
Brothers so briefly known.
They know the cost but never fail,
And proudly head for home.

Our weary souls, our battered bodies
Our sleepless tortured night.
We fight for what no one knows
We fight for what is right.

The reason sits in every heart
Now stilled beneath the ground.
Every soldier fighting now, 
Within them too it's found.

You who sleep in warm soft bed
You who run your race
Don’t you know the price that’s paid?
The cost to keep the pace?

Of course you don’t
You’ll never know
The aching hearts who die
The men who give their lives with pride
Never asking why.

They know, they know
The cost is high, the balance drawn in red
The forsaken love, the embittered spouse
Silent tears that must be shed.

How many nights in foreign land
With ne’er a friend to find
Does warrior brave with heart so strong
Refuse to leave a man behind?

And in that act his own death bring
A sacrifice for all.
That he should give his own breath now
That fewer brethren fall?

You mock, you sneer, you judge and convict
A man you do not know.
You sentence him without ever knowing
Of the road he has to go.

It is not his hand that drew the bill,
Not God’s will that he should die.
Darker forces draw this bill,
With ink never running dry.

I’ll take that bill, I’ll sign my name
And from afar I see
The candle lit in warmth and love
The candle lit for me.

The butcher’s bill is high today,
And I am paid in full.





by M. Henderson, civilian