I Wasn't There

I wasn't there to feel your pain
To watch you lie in mud and rain
I can't imagine what you saw
How you wished for home I am sure
There is no way I can ever know
How often you let your tears flow
To think of what you gave inside
I wear my poppy, wear it with pride

I wasn't there as you crawled
When you hoped the war had finally stalled
I can never know what you felt each day
The pain that never went away
Crawling from trench to trench
In slides of mud and nauseous stench
I was not there to see the tears you cried
So I wear my poppy, wear it with pride

The smile on your face as a letter arrived
And a reply that told your loved ones you had survived
After all these years you are still here to tell
But your lips are sealed about the war, the hell
I can't believe that one day people might forget
The heroes, the brave, the ones we never met
I will tell my children about the people who died
And will tell them to wear their poppies with pride

Because I was not there I can never understand
What it must have been like to hold a dying man's hand
To watch their life just fade away
Knowing it could be you today
So each year I think of the life I live
Remember those that their life did give
Just to give me the chance to breathe and survive
I will always wear my poppy with pride