Rosebuds scattered across the lawn like the squares at Waterloo
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With bayonets of thorns repelling small children in search of lost tennis balls
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Imaginary cannonballs that were fired at the legs of galloping cavalry
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Resting their dreams in the shade of the apple trees
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Toy soldiers drunk on warm lemonade
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And the children dream of glory and Fortunes of War
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Safe in bed with stories of Fortunes of War, Fortunes of War
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As the sun sets low on these playing fields
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An army returns bearing swords and shields
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Dustbin lids and raspberry canes they'll live to fight another day
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For warriors medals, milk bottle tops
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Battle flags fashioned from mother's old table cloths
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Bright colours run in the summer rain
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Sometimes when they fall they will pretend that their hankie is a bandage to stop the bleeding
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And imagine city streets and desert storms and foreign fields
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There's bullets flying, these are the Fortunes of War
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I heard a wheelchair whisper across a stale, stagnant gymnasium
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Trailing an ivy league jacket like a matador
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Through the jitterbug steps of the night before
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I followed him down to the church parade
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Where he makes his peace every armistice day
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I watched him fade away, melt in the autumn rain
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For sometimes when they fall they can't pretend
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That the hankie is a bandage that can't stop the bleeding
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They're out in city streets and desert storms or foreign fields
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With bullets flying, these are the Fortunes of War
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While their children dream of glory and Fortunes of War
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Safe in bed with stories and Fortunes of War
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Of uniforms and glory, Fortunes of War, Fortunes of War
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(Dick/Cassidy/Boult)
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Fortunes of War
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| Fish |
