Pretty Polly

Say goodbye to Pretty Polly The lass from the Co-op store She went and joined the Army And they sent her off to War Off to far Afghanistan To set the people free Pretty Polly’s was blown up By a roadside I.E.D. The armour saved her physically But mentally she was gone Stuck there in a time warp Wasn’t able to move on. They didn’t just desert her The counsellors really tried But out there in Afghanistan Some part of her had died. But Pretty Polly was a soldier And a soldier’s life is cheap So they gave her a War Pension And out on the scrap heap. Pretty Polly didn’t moan And Pretty Polly didn’t whine She had after all voluntarily Signed on the dotted line. She slept rough in the woods Bivvying on open ground Alert and awakened by Every single little sound. Sat on a shop doorsteep For hours every single day Until the police or the council Finally moved her on her way. They found her in a wood Hanging from a rope Pretty Polly it seems Had finally lost all hope. Just another Veteran Who chose to end life like that They bore Standards at her funeral The coffin bore her Dress Hat. The Padre told her story The family held a wake Some of her Regiment came Just for old times sake To saygoodbye to Pretty Polly The lass from the Co-op store Just another senseless victim Of another senseless war.