Twenty-One Steps (V-1)

Verse 1

The rain came down and filled the valley,

Turned the earth to mud and clay,

A soldier lay half-buried, silent,

In a broken trench where he once lay.

His eyes were open to the heavens,

But his breath had slipped away,

And the war had claimed another,

With no more words left to say.

Verse 2

Water soaked the ink and paper,

Washed the names from what remained,

Till the picture in his pocket

Was just a memory in the rain.

Now his eyes are closed forever,

Laid to rest with countless more,

In a crate beneath the silence,

As the tears fall on the shore.

Chorus

For the unknown soldiers,

For the nameless and the brave,

For the sons who never made it home,

For the ones without a grave.

There are fathers left with sorrow,

There are mothers left to cry,

And a million words unspoken

Beneath a cold and endless sky.

We remember, we remember,

Though their names may turn to stone,

Every unknown soldier

Was somebody's flesh and bone.

Verse 3

On a wall of marble, names are written,

In the silence, people stand,

Some lay flowers, some bow their heads,

Some reach out with trembling hands.

And they whisper to the fallen,

Though the years have come and gone,

For the dead are never nameless

When the love they left lives on.

Bridge

Twenty-one steps through the silence,

Twenty-one seconds still,

Twenty-one steps for the fallen,

For the ones who never will

Walk again beside their loved ones,

See the home they left behind,

Or tell the world their stories,

Or leave the war behind.

Final Chorus

For the unknown soldiers,

For the nameless and the brave,

For the sons who never made it home,

For the memories we save.

Let the marble bear their sorrow,

Let the winds repeat their names,

For the sacrifice of one life

Must never fade in vain.

Instrumental - Full Band

Outro

My great-grandpa is one of them,

One of many, standing tall,

One for all, and all for one,

We remember them all,

Twenty-one steps...

Twenty-one seconds...

Twenty-one steps...

And we remember.