I've been able to wake up every morning,

Sip my coffee and go through the morning papers.

I read about you and learnt how brave you'd been

The TV told me about the scenario that you had been in.

You live on the border, fighting the intruders who want to spoil peace,

You're there with other brave brothers, fighting to maintain peace.

So that I can wake up in the mornings,

So that my children play in the park.

So that my old parents can take a peaceful walk in the evenings,

And me and my sweetheart can party all through the dark.

You didn't celebrate Christmas, Eid or Diwali,

You're a father a husband and a son, but somehow you don't see your family.

My kids are her, they don't have the time to talk to me,

My wife and me fight often and we never really know what for,

While you stay awake so that we can live, while you fight our war

I never really bothered to know you, I rarely prayed for you,

Yet you died my brother, so that I can live, but did I really know you?

Today your family still mourn your loss, they miss the smile that you used to bring,

While I perhaps thought of them for a second, & now I'm back to partying and having a drink.

Am I really worth fighting and dying for? I've begun to sit and think.

I know I'm not brave enough to accept the reality

While you were man enough to die for a stranger like me,