Married to the Queen

School was over before the letter came
I kissed Francene, oh so sweet,
and wished for more.
Then the letter came.
"Greetings;" the letter read,
"You have been selected …"

I arrived at camp
and along with Frank and Tom and Joe and all the rest,
we were destined for the Queen.
With Sergeant Ford and Captain Dawes,
we trained to fight with steel and flesh and wit.

Before training's end
and journey to a foreign shore,
I danced with Joanne and held her close.
I heard her voice, oh so clear,
and wished for more.

Then the journey came.
I traveled on
and along with Frank and Tom and Joe and all the rest,
we were wedded to the Queen.

And on that wedding day
I saw there in the dust what had been a man in gray,
now crushed and made extinct
beneath Goliath's treads of steel.

I heard the sounds of shot and shell.
I saw the tracers’ roman candle arch.
I heard Tom scream and saw him fall —
The Queen's gift to him on this wedding day.

I feared that Queen and
along with Frank and Joe and all the rest,
we did her bidding.
With Sergeant Ford and Captain Dawes
we felt a dark foreboding,
but we did her bidding.

Men in gray wilted and died beneath our fire,
and they replied in kind.
Frank and many more — even Sergeant Ford —
cried and died beneath their fire.

Time dragged on through
sleepless nights of terror
and morning's light revealing
horrors the Queen's machine had wrought.

Days and nights repeating,
and I, along with Joe and all the rest,
did catch on.
It will never end.
Men in brown and gray will fight
and many die, along with Joe,
to drive the Queen's war machine.

When I dig a hole
to rest and ease my fear of death and pain
I dream of Francene and Joanne too, oh so sweet.
Can I wish for more?

Will again I taste a kiss so sweet,
or hear a voice so clear?
I fear not,
for I, along with all the rest
men in brown and gray
are married to The Queen of Battle
‘til death do us part.

—Phil Mitchell