I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier

Ten millions of soldier war have gone
who may never return again
Ten millions mother's hearts must break
for the ones who died in vain
Head bowed down in sorrow In her lonely years
I heard a mother murmur thru' her tears

I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
I brought him up to be my pride and joy
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder
to shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles
It's time to lay the sword and gun away
There'd be no war today
If mothers all would say
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier

What victory can cheer a mother's heart
when she looks at her blighted home
What victory can bring her back
all she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer In the years to be
Remember that my boy belongs to me