Peace Meal
We gird ourselves for the last battle
Lips cracked with salt and brackish water
We have stayed the course together, faithfully
And today we march into the sea

When it is over we will break the promised bread
Whether in the halls of victory or those of death
In whatever peace comes in that quiet tomorrow
We will share that last meal in our smiling sorrow

The foam roars in our ears, and thunders
But the still waters in us do not stir for we are
Each in our minds, back home in some grassy field
Tending to the ewes and thinning olives

When it is over we will break the promised bread
Whether in the halls of victory or those of death
In whatever peace comes in that quiet tomorrow
We will share that last meal in our smiling sorrow

One by one, we fall beneath dark waves
Piecemeal, until only one stays standing
In her heart is only her love who waits at home
Whose embrace she remembers as the brine closes above her
When it is over we will break the promised bread
Whether in the halls of victory or those of death
In whatever peace comes in that quiet tomorrow
We will share that last meal in our smiling sorrow