Returning — Peter Doherty

Captured clandestine Crawled into the lights He knew he was in for a shoeing Just wasn't to be his night

Dragged out of the frozen Rhine For the Motherland and the Third Reich A toeing's as good as a shoeing When it's not to be your night

Tread carefully, so carefully Upon the drifting ice Caught behind enemy lines In 1939 For Germany he sacrificed his life Caught behind enemy lines There in 1939

Kids knee-deep in rubble London urchins grey with dust Packed off out west in evacuations To farmers' wives Green and pleasant lives Far from the doodlebugs

Nanna Doll she still remembers Leaving town in worn-out shoes Now she's back out west in sheltered accommodations Homes for the old where pills aren't the only blues

Tread carefully, so carefully Upon the drifting ice Staring blank into the TV guide In 2009 How it's hurting me, I've only seen her twice Since she went west for the second time Since 1939