The sun was shining on the English Channel, on a ferry off the coast of France
And it was summer and a pleasant morning, and high above gulls wheeled and danced
And high above the cliffs of morning, the gun emplacements had stood in ranks
And I walked over to the railings and heard the ghosts of the Calgary Tanks
And I remembered pictures I'd seen in history books and magazines
Of three men standing, smoking, staring, among the dead on a rocky beach
And in the light of that pleasant morning, as we sailed under the cliffs above
I thought of all their silent prayers, and their final thoughts of the ones they loved
That they left behind at prairie stations, waving to their pride and joy
Waving to the smiling faces, smiling faces of the soldier boys
No waves of grain could claim the fallen, just the channel cold and gray as steel
And no return to the rollin' prairie or a silent cross on a lonely field
The sun was shining on the rolling prairie far from the channel cold and gray
Shone on the families, friends and lovers of the prairie boys who fell that day
But they could not know on that sunny morning the future held for them no joy
They'd wait in vain at prairie stations, wait in vain for their soldier boys
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