Childhood's end

We laid the last old soldier to rest today
A lingering relic of the older way
There were no muffled rolls of drums and no flags did wave
In the breeze that was not blowing
And on the spot where he was laid we lit a flame
To burn forever more until the end of time
To all the other soldiers known and unnamed
No gun salute was fired, no Last Post playing

Childhood's End was long in coming
But come it must for all our fear
For all our vanity, for all our stumbling
Childhood's End is drawing near

And a silent prayer was said by those who have something to pray to
While the rest of us joined hands and softly sang
And asked forgiveness from the dead for millennia of killing
For we knew now where the blame lay

And on the spot where he was laid we lit a flame
To burn forever more until the end of time
To all the other soldiers known and unnamed
No gun salute was fired, no Last Post playing

Childhood's End was long in coming
But come it must for all our fear
For all our vanity, for all our stumbling
Childhood's End is drawing near