13:52:17
FN-dagen!
1976 skrev en skotsk-australisk sångare och låtskrivare vid namn Eric Bogle en låt.
Han kallade den "No mans land".
Den handlar om en vandrare som slår sig ner för att vila på en krigskyrkogård i Frankrike.
Han för ett litet samtal med mannen vars grav han satt sig vid.
En ung man vid namn Willie McBride, som vid sin död 1916 endast var 19 år gammal.
Låten är nu mest känd som "The green fields of France", som Dropkick Murphys fått en hit med.
Jag har dock fastnat för den mer folkliga, traditionella inspelningen som The High Kings gjort.
Den är fantastiskt känslosam och finstämd.
Den är även väldigt aktuell, även fast den handlar om någon som stupade i ett krig för 100 år sedan.
Än idag stupar soldater i krig runtom i världen.
Soldater som man bara hör talas om som siffror i statistiken. Men varenda en av dem är en människa.
En människa med drömmar om en bättre värld.
I krig frinns inga segrare, endast offer...
Denna FN-dag sänder jag en tanke till alla civila offer som skördats när maktens män, när terrorn slagit till eller när religionens fasansfulla svallvågor dragit fram.
Denna FN-dag vill jag tänka på de unga män och kvinnor som hört sin nations kall, och som svarat.
När kriget är över, vad är ni då?
Döda?
Siffror i statistiken?
Överlevare?
För alltid fast i ett brinnande inferno...
Jag länkar upp High Kings version av "The green fields of France" här.
Lyssna gärna på den.
Det är en av de vackraste visorna jag hört...
Jag har även skrivit ut texten här under, bara för att den är helt fantastisk.
Well how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Allthough you died back in 1916
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
enclosed and forever behind a glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
The sun, now it shines over the green fields of France
There´s a warm summers breeze that makes the red poppies dance
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
I hope you died well and I hope you died clean
Or young Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined
Allthough you died back in 1916
In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
enclosed and forever behind a glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
The sun, now it shines over the green fields of France
There´s a warm summers breeze that makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's still no mans land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Now young Willie McBride I can't helt but wonder why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
Did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying were all done in vain
For young Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard it's still no mans land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Now young Willie McBride I can't helt but wonder why
Do those that lie here know why did they die
Did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying were all done in vain
For young Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again
Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Jag undrar ibland hur världen sett ut om krig inte funnits.
Hur långt hade vår utveckling tagit oss?
Om vi bara hade haft förmågan att hålla sams...
"Inatt jag drömde något som jag aldrig drömt förut
Jag drömde det var fred på jord, och alla krig var slut"
Var rädda om varandra.
Puss och kram