You kissed me on my lips
That day I left to go to war
You promised to pray for me every night
Promised you would write your letters
And that you would be there waiting for me
True to me, until I returned home to you
I promised that I would write to you
Your letters gave me hope when there was none
Gave me a reason to fight, to live for someone
That I would be true to you, come home to you
Just like sweethearts are supposed to do
Parted, but always to one another true
That day was nearly four years ago now
You kept your promise, wrote your letters to me
But in my replies back home to you
I could never bring myself to tell you the truth
The things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done
And I believe your prayers helped keep me safe
That you’ve kept your promise to me, waited true
The war to end all wars is now finally over
And now I’m home again, back once more in Scotland
Only a few hours by train away from you
I’m more frightened now than I ever was in the war
Of the words to you that I’ve come home to say
My love, I’ve not had the courage to speak the truth
In the letters that I’ve been writing back to you
This last year or so, I’ve not kept my promise to you
I haven’t waited for you, I’ve not been true
There’s a place in Belgium called Passchendaele
It’s a place we all came to know simply as Hell
But I met this Belgian girl there completely by chance
Marie is her name, but she’s not the one to blame
And lately, when I’ve been reading your letters
It’s imagining myself in her arms not yours I’ve been
Something unexpected has happened to me
I’ve fallen in love, with this girl in an unexpected romance
Now as I get those last few miles closer to home
I now know what true fear feels like
Part of me wants to find out you’ve not waited for me
Found yourself a new love, to me, not been true
Because I know the words that I’ve come home to say to you
Will in front of me, break your heart in two
I could have, maybe should have, written this all in a letter
But to you, I could not do such a cowardly thing
Even in war, I’ve not had a harder thing to do
And I can only hope, that after I return to Belgium
That someday, somehow, you will find a way to forgive me
For the terrible wrong that I am about to do to you
"The Broken Promise" © Tom King 2022
That day I left to go to war
You promised to pray for me every night
Promised you would write your letters
And that you would be there waiting for me
True to me, until I returned home to you
I promised that I would write to you
Your letters gave me hope when there was none
Gave me a reason to fight, to live for someone
That I would be true to you, come home to you
Just like sweethearts are supposed to do
Parted, but always to one another true
That day was nearly four years ago now
You kept your promise, wrote your letters to me
But in my replies back home to you
I could never bring myself to tell you the truth
The things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done
And I believe your prayers helped keep me safe
That you’ve kept your promise to me, waited true
The war to end all wars is now finally over
And now I’m home again, back once more in Scotland
Only a few hours by train away from you
I’m more frightened now than I ever was in the war
Of the words to you that I’ve come home to say
My love, I’ve not had the courage to speak the truth
In the letters that I’ve been writing back to you
This last year or so, I’ve not kept my promise to you
I haven’t waited for you, I’ve not been true
There’s a place in Belgium called Passchendaele
It’s a place we all came to know simply as Hell
But I met this Belgian girl there completely by chance
Marie is her name, but she’s not the one to blame
And lately, when I’ve been reading your letters
It’s imagining myself in her arms not yours I’ve been
Something unexpected has happened to me
I’ve fallen in love, with this girl in an unexpected romance
Now as I get those last few miles closer to home
I now know what true fear feels like
Part of me wants to find out you’ve not waited for me
Found yourself a new love, to me, not been true
Because I know the words that I’ve come home to say to you
Will in front of me, break your heart in two
I could have, maybe should have, written this all in a letter
But to you, I could not do such a cowardly thing
Even in war, I’ve not had a harder thing to do
And I can only hope, that after I return to Belgium
That someday, somehow, you will find a way to forgive me
For the terrible wrong that I am about to do to you
"The Broken Promise" © Tom King 2022
NOTE - Can you always keep your promise even if it was made in circumstances that no longer exist?