There was one tap and one sink in my grandparents flat, and as my nan scrubbed and dressed the child of me, I asked her about the red flower she had on her coat. Nan was 16 at the end of The Great War and 43 at the end of the Second, and she talked to me of lost friends, the folly and the bombing. She told me that the flower was to remind us all of the terrible mistakes we had made, and as she spoke, she took the flower off her coat and pinned it on mine and she rested her hand on it saying, “Son, you must make sure it happens no more.” I feel the hand and the weight of that responsibility now more than ever.
lyrics
I remember the day when my nan stood me there
On a chair as she dressed me she talked of war
And she pinned a poppy right here on my new coat and said
“Son you must make sure this happens no more”
Ch Make sure this happens no more
Make sure this happens no more
She pinned a poppy right here on my coat
And said “Make sure this happens no more”
There was no talk of heroes and no talk of valour
No talk of battles hard won or hard lost
She spoke of the folly and short wasted lives
Of lovers and friends whose lives it had cost
Never again must we live in trenches,
Never again must we go to war,
Never again must the lives of the young
Be wasted in battle as they have before
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