I am on board a crowded ship 

I can see Folkestone in the distance 

France is within view 

I am off to war 

With luck I will return 

Another soldier in a different uniform 

Is waiting for me with his rifle 

I might kill him 

Or he might kill me 

I will not know until the dice is rolled 

Without this dreadful war 

We would have remained 

Unknown to each other

But we are destined to meet 

In a yet to be designated place 

If this conflict had not started 

I might have visited his country 

And passed him anonymously in the street 

We might have exchanged knowing smiles  

As I admired his beautiful companion 

This theatre might have been repeated 

In the small Kent town of my birth 

This foreign visitor would have been my guest 

Meeting my mother and sister Sissy over tea 

 And our rifles would have only been blind nightmares