Walter is dead, yet he follows on with all the other fallen soldiers. He is now part of another army, the shadow army. He fights still, they all do. He says it himself, "For the dead are fighting too." Remember this silent shadow army whilst you read, for they fight on, without us knowing or realising it most of the time, but they are there. "Theirs is the victory."
The Shadow Army
The shadow army,
A silent army,
March on
Without a sound.
Behind the living,
They carry on,
Unseen
Their souls not bound.
On the muddied fields,
Of Flanders' cursèd plains;
They march on west,
Treading lightly the bloodied ground.
Over all the Earth,
Their spirits do roam,
A resting place
Found not.
For they are the fallen:
Who march behind their leader,
Faithfully,
As a dog follows his master.
They followed him once,
And follow him still;
Dancing to the tune,
Of each native hill.
They, who are gone,
Fought bravely,
Died valiantly,
Far from home.
The ultimate price they paid,
Their lives for it they gave;
This living cause,
Of peace and equity.
And so, keep faith,
"Keep faith!"
They cry;
Or else for nought we die.
Carry on,
Unhindered by time;
Keep faith, be brave
Carry on.
The Piper he pipes,
A deadly song:
Of broken hearts,
Of things gone wrong.
But they followed the call,
They died for peace:
Those boys of yesterday,
In a hell on earth they perished.
A poet, a boy,
A dreamy one;
No more shall he roam,
For he is now buried, yonder Canada's foam.
For our tomorrow,
They gave their today:
So theirs is the victory.
For they are, as ever,
The shadow army.
I took some words and phrases from the famous poems of the Great War and various versions of "The Piper". These words are not exactly mine, nor any of the poets', in a sense, for they are the words and voices of the fallen. LMM owns Walter and The Piper and all those other themes, ideas and characters. May we learn from their writings.
Lest we forget.