[Verse 1] Ink still wet On a shaking name Boots too big But you sign it just the same Voice pitched low Like you practiced in the glass "Born ninety-five" Though your childhood’s barely passed [Pre-Chorus] Train smoke in your lungs Ticket punched in your pride You wanted to be a man They just needed more bodies on the line [Chorus] Too young for trenches Too old for sleep You traded your textbooks For mud that runs deep Fourteen candles Blown out by a gun You lied about your birthday To stand with the grown Too young for trenches But they handed you one [Verse 2] Helmet slips Down across your eyes You taste iron In the thunder of the sky Letters home Say "Ma I’m doing fine" You leave out How the rats don’t fear the light [Pre-Chorus] You still dream in chalk On the dust of a desk Now it’s dust on your boots And a name on a metal chest [Chorus] [Bridge] [low vocal register] You were thirteen last winter Still learning how to shave Now you count the breaths Between each wave Of fire Of fear Of orders barked in rain You wanted one bright moment Got a lifetime pressed in pain [crescendo] [Chorus] [Outro] When the marching ends And the medals shine They’ll toast to heroes Never ask the time On the day you were born On the boy you were then Just a child in a uniform Disappearing in the men
