Song for a Brother

I was taking the mail sack to the post
20 miles on the skis, towards the enemy line
Ten thousand flyers saying "please surrender
Come and get some butter on your bread"

It wasn't too much for my strength
Just too much nonsense for a practical man
With too much work to think of ideologies
Who starts the fighting, and why we're tossed in it
I left the sack beside a tree and reached for a smoke
"They have time to pick it up", my voice broke

I've worked for every piece of bread I ate
But someone has a hold on you on his coffee table
Of oak, I guess, or some exotic wood
They push you around, until you're done for good
I lay down on the sack and kept my eyes to the sky
Watching the magpies on the fly

While I'm lying there thinking in my short-lived heaven
You're guarding the line, when the hell broke loose
I can still hear the blasts that shattered the dream
I got snow on my face, and the birds fled the scene
Now should I be happy that I'm free and alive?
There ain't no winners in the war

I'm singing a song for you my brother
I'm singing a song for you and you're lying in the grave
You're lying in the grave for nothing
Why was it you who had to go for nothing?