Work Text:
When I was a young gem, I lived with my Pearl
And I had the free life of a rover.
From the North of the mountains, to the dusty underworld
I gazed at the Heavens all over!
Then in Era point Five, My Diamond said “Hon,
it’s time to stop wandering.
There’s work to be done.”
So they gave me a uniform
And they gave me a gun…
And I then went away to the war.
And I still gazed up to the Heavens
As we all sailed away from our home
And amidst all the tears,
the flag-waving, and cheers,
We sailed off to all Queendom-come.
How well I remember that terrible time
When the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that Hell that they called “The First Line”
We were butchered like chips at the slaughter.
The Rebels were ready, they primed themselves well
They showered us with bullets, and they rained us with shells
And in one minute flat they’d blown us all to Hell
Nearly blew me right on back to our Homeworld!
And still I gazed up at the Heavens
As we stopped to bury our slain
And we buried ours, and the rebels did theirs
…..then we started all over again.
Now, those who were living did their best to survive
In that mad world of dust, blood, and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the shattered piled higher.
Then a big rebel bomb knocked me halfway to bed!
And then my Pearl came,
and she lifted my head.
I learned what it had done…
…Stars, I wished I was dead!
I never knew there were worse things than dying.
So no more I’ll go watching the Heavens
Or the comets so far and so free
For to gaze at starlight…
A gem needs her sight.
No more watching the Heavens for me.
So they collected the crippled, the wounded, and maimed,
And they shipped us back off to the Homeworld.
The legless, the armless, the deaf, the insane
All those who were wailing for their own Pearls.
And as our ship pulled into the Diamond Quay
I touched at the place where my eyes used to be
And thanked the Stars there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve… or to mourn… or to pity.
And the Emeralds all gazed at the Heavens
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered. They just stood and stared.
….then they turned all their faces away.
So now, in the Summer, I sit with my Love
And she describes the parade that’s before me.
“Oh, look, our old comrades!
How proudly they march,
Reliving the dreams of past glory.”
I hear the old gems,
All tired, stiff, and sore
The forgotten heroes of a forgotten war.
And the new gems, they ask me,
“What are they marching for?”
….I ask myself the same question.
And I used to gaze up at the Heavens.
And these old gems still answer the call.
But year after year….
Their numbers grow fewer.
Someday, no one will march there at all.