1917
Through A Glass Darkly
(David Olney/Bug Music-David Olney Songs)

The strange young man who comes to me
A soldier on a three day spree
Who needs one night's cheap ecstacy
And a woman's arms to hid him

He greets me with a courtly bow
He hides his pain by acting proud
And he drinks too much and laughs too loud
How can I deny him

Let us dance beneath the moon
I'll sing to you "Claire de Lune"
The morning always comes too soon
But tonight the war is over

He speaks to me in schoolboy French
Of a soldier's life inside a trench
The look of death, the ghastly stench
I do my best to please him

He puts two roses in a vase
Two roses sadly out of place
Like the gallant smile on his haggard face
Playfully I tease him

Hold me 'neath the Paris sky
Let's not talk of how or why
Tomorrow's soon enough to die
But tonight the war is over

We make love too hard, too fast
He falls asleep, his face a mask
He wakes with the shakes and drinks from his flask
I put my arms around him

They die in the trenches, they die in the air
In Belgium and France, the dead are everywhere
They die so fast there's no time to prepare
A decent grave to surround them

Old World glory, Old World fame
The Old World's gone, gone up in flames
Nothing will ever be the same
And nothing lasts forever

I'd pray for him but I've forgotten how
And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now
But there's always another with the same funny bow
And who am I to deny them

Tonight the war is over