Soldier ft. Josiah Taylor Lyrics

I went when they called me; we all went that year

To fight for our homes and the ones we held dear

I went and I fought and I killed and I cried

And I held my friends' hands as they bled and they died

A year turned to two and to three and to five

And we somehow kept fighting, though barely alive

When six years were over, they told us we'd won

And we cheered and we clapped and we put down our guns

And home I went gladly cross land and cross sea

To see my dear mother who'd said prayers for me

But there at her door, my young brother, so tall

Says, "You didn't get word that we lost her last fall?"

And there in her place is a girl that I knew

A girl that I trusted, who swore she'd be true

She married my brother, two years they've been wed

"I'm sorry," she says, "but we thought you were dead."

They try to be kind now, my brother and she

They find me a room, and they ask me to tea

They try, and they smile, and they soothe and they host

But they don't understand that they're serving a ghost

The man that I was is as lost as the dead

As lost as my comrades who suffered and bled

I once had a life filled with hope and with trust

But all that remains now are shadows and dust