As I walked down by the river Down by the frozen fen I saw the grey cathedral With the eyes of a child of ten. O the railway arch is smoky As the Flying Scot goes by And but for the Education Act Go Jumper Cross and I. But war is a bitter bugle That all must learn to blow And it didn't take long to stop the song In the dirty Italian snow. O war is a casual mistress And the world is her double bed She has a few charms in her mechanized arms But you wake up and find yourself dead. The olive tree in winter Casts her banner down And the priest in white and scarlet Comes up from the muddy town. O never more will Jumper Watch the Flying Scot go by. His funeral knell was a six-inch shell Singing across the sky. The Queen of Castile has a daughter Who won't come home again She lies in the grey cathedral Under the arms of Spain. O the Queen of Castile has a daughter Torn out by the roots Her lovely breast in a cold stone chest Under the farmers' boots. Now I like a Spanish party And many O many's the day I have watched them swim as the night came dim In Algeciras Bay. O the high sierra was thunder And the seven-branched river of Spain Came down to the sea to plunder The heart of the sailor again. O shall I leap in the river And knock upon paradise door For a gunner of twenty-seven and a half And a queen of twenty-four? From the almond tree by the river I watch the sky with a groan, For Jumper and Kate are always out late And I lie here alone. Charles Causley