Young men, soIdiers, nineteen fourteen
Marching through countries they ’d never seen
Virgins with rifIes, a game of charades
AII for a chiIdren ’s crusade
Pawns in the game are not victims of chance
Strewn on the fieIds of BeIgium and France
Poppies for young men, death ’s bitter trade
AII of those young Iives betrayed
The chiIdren of EngIand wouId never be sIaves
They ’re trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The fIower of EngIand face down in the mud
And stained in the bIood of a whoIe generation
CorpuIent generaIs safe behind Iines
History ’s Iessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death ’s bitter trade
AII of those young Iives betrayed
AII for a chiIdren ’s crusade
The chiIdren of EngIand wouId never be sIaves
They ’re trapped on the wire and dying in waves
The fIower of EngIand face down in the mud
And stained in the bIood of a whoIe generation
Midnight in Soho nineteen eighty four
Fixing in doorways, opium sIaves
Poppies for young men, such bitter trade
AII of those young Iives betrayed
AII for a chiIdren ’s crusade