Flowers of Saskatchewan

FLOWERS OF SASKATCHEWAN
 The sun was shining on the English Channel
 On a ferry off the coast of France
 It was summer and a pleasant morning
 And high above gulls wheeled and danced
 And high above the cliffs of morning
 The gun emplacements had stood in ranks
 I walked over to the railing
 And I heard the ghosts of the Calgary Tanks
 And I remembered pictures I'd seen
 In history books and magazines
 Of three men standing, smoking, staring
 Among the dead men on a rocky beach
 And in the light of that pleasant morning
 As we sailed under the cliffs above
 I thought of all their silent prayers
 And the final thoughts of the ones they loved
 That they left behind at prairie stations
 Waving to their pride and joy
 Waving to the smiling faces
 Smiling faces on the soldier boys of?
 No waves of grain would claim the fallen
 Just the channel cold and grey as steel
 And no return to the rolling prairie
 And a silent cross on a lonely field
 The sun was shining on the rolling prairie
 Far from the channel, cold and grey
 Shone on the families, friends and lovers
 Of the prairie boys who fell that day
 But they could not know on that sunny morning
 The future held for them no joy
 They'd wait in vain at prairie stations
 Wait in vain for their soldier boys