Christmas 1915

1915 on Christmas Day
On the western front the guns all died away
And lying in the mud on bags of sand
We heard a German sing from no man's land

He had tenor voice so pure and true
The words were strange but every note we knew
Soaring or the living dead and dammed
The German sang of peace from no man's land

They left their trenches and we left ours
Beneath tin hats smiles bloomed like wild flowers
With photos, cigarettes, and pots of wine
We built a soldier's truce on the front line

Their singer was a lad of twenty one
We begged another song before the dawn
And sitting in the mud and blood and fear
He sang again the song all longed to hear

Silent night, no cannons roar
A King is born of peace for evermore
All's calm, all's bright
All brothers hand in hand
In 19 and 15 in no man's land

And in the morning all the guns boomed in the rain
And we killed them and they killed us again
At night they charged we fought them hand to hand
And I killed the boy that sang in no man's land

Silent night no cannons roar
A King is born of peace for evermore
All's calm, all's bright
All brothers hand in hand

And that young soldier sings
And the song of peace still rings
Though the captains and all the kings
Built no man's land
Sleep in heavenly peace