Flanders

Said the general of in competence
to the hapless that he led
we fight for king and country
to avenge our noble dead
and on the fields of Flanders
where the angels fear to tread
the young boys of Ireland
wounded slowly bled

the cost was never thought of
that expendable resource
the ebb and flow of battle
that had to take its course
there were many more waiting
to replenish that task force

today there is a metal plate
that once bore a name
a date of birth, a regiment
that some grieving folk could claim
but it's eroded by history
like the incompetence and the blame