Achilles

I saw a man this morning

Standing on a foreign shore

From his eyes tears were falling

As he made ready for war

He shouted out a warning;

You slew my sweetest friend

And as sure as day is dawning

His death will be avenged

Was it so hard to die, Achilles

So very hard to die?

You know and I know not, Achilles

So much the happier I

You breached the walls of Troy, Achilles

Slaughtered a thousand men

Patroclus is destroyed, Achilles

And can't come back again

I saw a man this morning

Trudging through a muddy field

From the sky a shell was falling

With his name scratched in the steel

Lend him your shield, Achilles

Ask the gods to be his guide

All he has is A Shropshire Lad

With this poem scrawled inside

Was it so hard to die, Achilles

So very hard to die?

You know and I know not, Achilles

So much the happier I

Look to the starry skies, Achilles

Look to the silver seas

They do not live or die, Achilles

And neither do we

I saw a man this morning

He was turning fifty-three

And his pampered mind was turning

To thoughts of mortality

One day I will be nothing

Think how funny that will feel

For we, the living

Death is the Achilles Heel