ANZAC Soldiers
Through the snow drifts side by side,
Driving through foul mud and water
They gave their all and for it died.
In the trenches; stenching jungles
In the teeming monsoon rain
In the deserts and the mountains,
Racked by fear and crippling pain,
They fought for freedom and survival
They fought for home and child and wife;
They died that every living person
Might find a peaceful happy life.
Though the world, may never know them,
Know their fear and mental cost,
We are proud, that they were soldiers
Who preserved for others what they lost.
They did not die for rank nor honour,
They did not hate their gallant foe;
They fought for friend and one another,
As only veteran soldiers know.
So now we stand; salute their passing,
Once again to say goodbye,
People of a tranquil nation
Made free by those who had to die.
In thought and dream we resurrect them,
Those who went to war and died;
Those who gave their lives for freedom,
Those who would not be denied.
Gone the profiles of their faces,
Gone their hearts and thoughts and deeds,
Leaving only fading traces,
Of a fine and noble breed.
We’ll not forget them; no not ever!
We’ll count them present on parade,
For while we stand as one together,
Their memory will not fade.
©Colin F. Jones
