Mothers Daughters Wives

The first time it was fathers,

The last time it was sons

In between your husbands

Marched away with drums and guns.

But you never thought to question.

You just went on wi' your lives.

Cause all they taught you who to be,

Was mothers, daughters, wives.

You barely just remember

The tears your mother shed

As she sat and read the papers

Through the lists and lists of dead.

And the gold frame held a photogragh

Your mother kissed each night.

And the door frame held a shocked

And silent stranger from the frae.

And twenty-one years later,

You had children of your own.

The trumpets sounded once again,

And the soldier boys were gone.

But you made their guns and drove their trucks

And you tended to their wounds.

At night you kissed their photograph

And prayed for safe returns.

The first time it was fathers,

The last time it was sons

In between your husbands

Marched away with drums and guns.

But you never thought to question.

You just went on wi' your lives.

Cause all they taught you who to be,

Was mothers, daughters, wives.

And when it was all over

You had to learn again

To be just wives and mothers,

Tho' you'd done the work of men.

But you worked to help the needy

And you never trod on toes.

And the photo on the mantlepiece

Struck a happy family pose.

But your daughters grew to women

And your little boys to men.

And you wished that you were dreaming

When the call up came up again.

But you bravely smiled and held your tears

As you proudly waved goodbye.

But the photo on the mantel piece

It always made you cry.

The first time it was fathers,

The last time it was sons

In between your husbands

Marched away wi' drums and guns.

But you never thought to question.

You just went on wi' your lives.

Cause all they taught you who to be,

Was mothers, daughters, wives.

Now you're getting older

And in time the photos fade.

In widowhood you sit there

And reflect on the parade.

And the passing of your memories

How your daughter change their lives.

Seeing more to their existences

Than mothers, daughters, wives.

The first time it was fathers,

The last time it was sons

In between your husbands

Marched away with drums and guns.

But you never thought to question.

You just went on wi' your lives.

Cause all they taught you who to be,

Was mothers, daughters, wives.

Aye you never thought to question.

You just went on with your lives.

Cause all they taught you who to be,

Was mothers, daughters, wives.