1. Ten million soldiers to the war have gone;
Who may never return again.
Ten million mothers' hearts must break
For the one who died in vain.
Head bowed down in sorrow in her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thro her tears:
Chorus:
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
I brought him up to be my pride and joy,
Who dares to place some musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
There'd be no wars today if mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.""
2. What victory can cheer a mother's heart;
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cares to call her own.
Let each mother answer in the years to be,
Remember that my boy belongs to me!
Chorus:
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier
I brought him up to be my pride and joy,
Who dares to place some musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away,
There'd be no wars today if mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."
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