And there's sorrows, smoke and stories
in the barracks of my mind
And I'm with him still in the trenches,
I can see his dark brown eyes
And his courage gave me courage
when I was sure we were going to die
I asked him once why he volunteered
for that hellhole far away
To fight for someone else's king
and the land they took away
He said, one invading mob's too many
waiting flags on the side of the road
Mudham Bridge and Mundrabilla
From Narrow Court and Perth
First Australian station hands
There were shearers, gangers, clerks
And there was no black and
And on our upturned slouch hat brims
Soldiers, brothers, all Australians
When the bullets are whinin'
we're all just shades of grey
in their box in a drawer,
he kept them well tucked away
Then he'd pull them out, put them on,
Every Anzac, Every Anzac,
Amityth, Flanders, Tarrancot,
Armien, Morotai, Fontaine,
Somalia, Crete and Kapyong,
they were the first Australians
We drifted back into our lives
And we all tried to hide the scars
Of the tears and fears and terrors
That still tracked us down the years
But the bastards wouldn't let him in
They didn't see a soldier
Just the first Australian
And I wonder what it was we fought for
What it was that gave away
This reconciliation's still to come
Every Anzac, every Anzac,
So when the sun sets in the evening
When the dawn lights up the sky
We remember those first Australians
Who joined, fought and died
From the missions, bush and station
Country, the towns, Torres Strait
Now We're not every Anzac day
Live free and tax die. die.
4.8
