LION
Lucy Ward
(I Dreamt I Was a Bird, 2015)

Tear the white linen from his sheet lad
He won't be sleeping in this bed tonight
I won't tell you again lad,
The moon is sinking we're running out of time
Pin it gently to his chest lad, strip him of rank
Then it's straight back to your dorm
The air is cold, the orders clear lad,
They shoot Bobby Barker at dawn
They shoot Bobby Barker at dawn

It ain't that he's done much wrong lad,
He fought like a lion on the Somme
But he's had it up to here with this war lad,
He's tired we can't let him go on
When the orders came to stand up and fight
Bobby lay there with tears in his eyes
Shouting and shaking, it's moral that he's breaking,
You see lad he just didn't try
You see lad he just didn't try

The butcher has signed his name on the line
There is nothing now to be done
So pin it close to his heart
And let the sad business start
For they shoot Bobby Barker at dawn
They shoot Bobby Barker at dawn

There'll be no last post played today lad,
There'll be no funeral parade
They'll drag Bobby's body away lad
And dump him in some foreign grave
The morning comes and in the sound of the guns
A terrible beauty is born
For the lads won't slack when the captain cries attack
For they shot Bobby Barker at dawn
No the lads won't stop going over the top
For they shot Bobby Barker at dawn.