- Alas, as I look on this bleak foreign land.
- Was sent here to fight against my fellow man.
- Now wounded I lie, I have done all I can,
- And so I know
- That I will soon
- Be going home.
- And as I consider my last mortal day
- Poor Meg sits at home with our child on its way.
- Oh how I do wish she could hear what I say.
- She's unaware
- That I will not
- Be going home.
- Oh Meg, please forgive me for what I have done:
- Left mother with baby and took up my gun;
- Sought glory and valour, but now we have none.
- But carry on
- Though I will not
- Be coming home.
- Not least, spare a thought for my fatherless child.
- I leave in the hands of your mother so mild,
- A posthumous birth cannot be reconciled.
- Remember me
- Though I will not
- Be coming home.
- And if there's a God in this landscape from Hell,
- Please welcome my soul for I tried to do well.
- Forgive me my pride and forgive how I fell.
- Oh how I hope
- That I will soon
- Be going home.____
by Albert Semple
30 lines over 5 stanzas.