Armalite, street lights, night-sights Searching the roofs for a sniper, viper, fighter d**h in the shadows he'll maim you, wound you, he'll k** you For long-forgotten cause, on not so foreign shores Boys baptised in wars Morphine, chill stream, bad dream Serving as numbers on dogtags, flak-rags, sandbags Your girl has married your best friend, love's end, poison pen Your flesh will always creep, tossing turning sleep The wounds that burn so deep Your mother sits on the edge of the world When the cameras start to roll Panoramic viewpoints resurrect the k**ing fold Your father drains another beer he's one of the few that cares Crawling behind a saracen's hull From the safety of his living room chair Forgotten sons, forgotten sons, forgotten sons And so i patrol in the valley of the shadow of the tricolor I must fear evil for i am but mortal and mortals can only die Asking questions, pleading answers from the nameless Faceless watchers that stalk the carpeted corridors of whitehall Who order desecration, mutilation, verbal masturbation
In their guarded bureaucratic wombs Minister, minister care for your children, order them not Into damnation to eliminate those who would trespa** Against you, for whose is the kingdom? The power and the glory, forever and ever Amen Halt who goes there? d**h Approach.... friend You're just another coffin on its way down the emerald aisle Where the children's stony glances mourn your d**h In a terrorist's smile The bomber's arm places fiery gifts on the supermarket shelves Alleys sing with shrapnel, dance in a temporary hell Forgotten sons From the dole queue to the regiment a profession in a flash But remember monday's signings when from door to door you dash On the news a nation mourns your unknown soldier count the cost For a second you'll be famous but labelled posthumous Forgotten sons Forgotten sons Ring o' roses, they all fall down Peace on earth and mercy mild, mother brown has lost her child Just another forgotten son