Boys surround me crying
And here I stand, just seventeen
A girl waiting for me at home
Of her I always dream
Boys dressed up as soldiers
Barely old enough to shave
Guns strapped to their shoulders
They're expected to be brave
Boys fighting to survive
Their enemy much the same
Speaking a different voice
But man is still their name
Boys dying all around
Never to see the sun again
Running through the minefields
To salvation around the bend
And there beside me lies
A soldier crying blood
His arm is cut and bruised
His tears run out in floods
He searches to my eyes
A pained look upon his face
Reaching into his pocket
He hands me a picture wrapped in lace
A beautiful women stares back
From the forest background frame
Grabbing me by the hand
He says "Marie"- her name
With breaths running short
His final moments on the beach
He stares into my eyes
And said "Ich Liebe Dich"
With those final words
The boy died in my arms
Brave, though my enemy
I ran away alarmed
"Captain, sir one question
Before I leave this beach
If you could only tell me
What means -Ich Liebe Dich-?"
"Son, that means I love you
Why though do you ask?"
"Nevermind that, thank you
What's gone is in the past"
I ran to the nearest town
"Marie", her name I called
There were three short words
That she needed to hear after all
A woman looked at me
From the door of a broken house
She stood with blond hair tied back
In a charcoal-stained white blouse
"Marie", I said, my heart beating too fast
"Your boyfriend died on the beach
But with his final breath he said
Ich Liebe Dich"
She burst into tears there
Slammed the door closed then
And I knew in this wartime love story
I'd said the words "The End"
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