
The Kelly Song Collective
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
A first son born in Belfast, Ontario bred
You look like your grandad is what they all said
My mother would sing and lay alongside
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
I was eighteen years old when I was misled
It’s men that we want is what the sign said
And the 2nd Battalion I wore it with pride
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
We smoked and we laughed how we’d murder the krauts
Never asking ourselves if we had any doubts
About killing a person who’s not on your side
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
Imagine how bad, it’s a million times worse
If you sleep you can’t dream you just wait and you curse
And the killing each day left you more horrified
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
I killed a young soldier younger than me
He rose from a pillbox but he didn’t see
In truth I wanted to run and to hide
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
The bullets relentless so was the rain
November in Belgium pitted and stained
With the blood and the death til I sat and I cried
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
We waded through mud in crater and ditch
But we captured and held the Passchendaele ridge
Through a hail of shells thousands dead on each side
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
The guns fell silent too late I suppose
My body’s not there beneath crosses in rows
I died in a quagmire and a damned genocide
Private Charles Hannah Presumed To Have Died
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© Michael Worthington Music 2019
