Oh ANZAC day you’ve missed the point
of what you must remember
A hundred years and still you talk
of glory and adventure.
Of ultimate sacrifices made
in song and prayer and flowers
But the sacrifice of which you talk
Was caused by men in ivory towers

It’s true I joined for imagined days
of glory and adventure
But lost in long and bloody years
was hope of any future
I killed some Turk and then some Hun
I thought they would be monsters
But when I saw them face to face
Like me they were just soldiers

I heard my friend shout out my name
I saw my body fallen
I watched them dig and fill my grave
with soil that was foreign
I watched my mother feint in fear
A cable filled with dread
Four sons were serving overseas
now one of them is dead

You made a legend out of me
a true-blue Aussie hero and
You cannot even remember
that some were from New Zealand
You trample on the Turkish shore
where we were the invaders
And it never does occur to you
That the Turkish loss was greater

So who made up this fairy tale
and why does it endure
The men who live in ivory towers
to keep their power and ensure
That whenever it’ll increase their tenure
the young will head the call
and dream of glory and adventure
until the day they fall.

Oh ANZAC Day you’ve missed the point
Listen and remember
A hundred years and still we choke
On glory and adventure
War will never end a war
It only feeds the next
We wanted it to be the last
But it was just the bloody first.

CJ 2017