Common Ground

Here we are alive and free
Far away in time
From our darkest day

That took our young and brave
From the cradle to the grave
70 years ago on July 1, 1916
On the Somme

The enemies had never seen
Fighting like this before
Such a simple plan
How could any German man
Survive through that ordeal

Company A to Company B
"Morale is high here, Sir
But I don't think it's safe to go"

Company A from Company B
"Mister, you have your orders
And you must obey"

So the first line rose and the first line fell
And a poet who survived later wrote about
A sunlit vision of hell and larks singing
Because after all it's just
Another summer's day in France

And the Tommies on the Somme sang
"We are fighting to turn no-man's land
Into a common ground"
A common ground