Rose beds scattered across the lawn   Like the squares at Waterloo   With bayonets of thorns repelling small children   In search of lost tennis balls      Imaginary cannonballs that were fired   At the legs of galloping cavalry   Resting their dreams in the shade of the apple trees   Toy soldiers drunk on warm lemonade      And the children dream of glory and fortunes of war   They're safe in bed with stories   And fortunes of war, fortunes of war      As the sun sets low on these playing fields   An army returns with its swords and shields   Dustbin lids and raspberry canes   They'll live to fight another day      Warrior's medals, milk bottle tops   Battle flags fashioned   From Mother's old table cloths   Bright colors run in the summer rain      'Cause sometimes when they fall   They will pretend   That the hankie is a bandage   To stop the bleeding      And imagine city streets   And desert storms and foreign fields   And bullets flying   These are the fortunes of war      I heard a wheelchair whisper   Across a stale, stagnant gymnasium   Trailing an ivy league jacket like a matador   Through the jitterbug steps of the night before      And I followed him down to the church parade   Where he makes his peace every armistice day   I watched him fade away   And melt in the autumn rain      'Cause sometimes when they fall   They can't pretend   That the hankie is a bandage   They can't stop the bleeding      They're out in city streets   And desert storms in foreign fields   Oh, there's bullets flying   These are the fortunes of war      While the children dream of glory   And fortunes of war   They're safe in bed with stories   And fortunes of war      The uniforms and glory   The fortunes of war, fortunes of war   The fortunes of war, fortunes of war   Fortunes of war, these are the fortunes of war      Of war, of war, of war, of war, of war   These are the fortunes, these are the fortunes   Fortunes of war, these are the fortunes, fortunes of war   These are the fortunes, fortunes of war