An Old Soldier Poem by Francis Duggan

Poor old Freddy is manic depressive but he has earnt all of his phobias and fears
At nineteen he was a young soldier and that's going back six decades of years
Who fought in the trenches of Europe where the most of his brave comrades fell
He doesn't have to fear the hereafter since he has been through earthly hell.

He left the army without counselling and to make a go out of life he did try
But he had been through many traumas and he had seen too many die
For solace he turned to alcohol and into depression did sink
And he's spent years in and out of asylums as one living on suicide's brink.

One of the few World War 2 survivors in the land of the living today
The nurse makes sure he takes his medication to keep his old war ghosts at bay
Life doubtless for him would be better had he never fought in a war
His time in the trenches in Europe left him with a deep mental scar.

It was not of much use to Freddy that the side he had fought on had won
The war changed the whole course of his life and strange things to his mind had done
His price for becoming a hero for him seemed far too high to pay
And had he never been to battle he'd feel saner and happier today.

Far too young to be shipped off to battle for to fight under a foreign sky
For to experience such must have been traumatic for a teenage fresh faced country boy
Who hailed from the high wooded country the home of the pied
currawong
That young men must fight for the war lords to say the least
morally wrong.

Poor Fred a forgotten old soldier the years have left him looking gray
He suffers from manic depression and he never has much to say
About the great battles he fought in where most of his young comrades fell
And he doesn't fear the hereafter for he has lived in earthly hell.