Glance through me looking glass wee child,
What, oh what do you see?
Bright sunshine and soft white clouds
Fragrent flowers buzzing with bees?
A clear sky, the brightest azure,
Dainty rabbits with woffly noses?
Bluebirds who sing a song so true,
Buttercups, daisies and roses?
Grass, so luch!, carpeting the meadows,
Large trees and new green shoots,
Branches laden with leaves, flitting butterflies,
Red strawberries, melons and fruits?
Oh! A paradise such as this,
Is that what you see my child?
Only happiness and gay laughter,
Nothing sad, nothing unhappy, nothing vile?
Look now my child, another glimpse,
To the other side, to see,
A world different to the one before,
Full of dark deeds and grief
A battlefield strewn with the dead,
Smoke clouding the sky
The stench of fear fills the air
With wit, whimpers, screams and anguished cries.
Men killing men, 'til no one is left,
The battlefield, a wasteland it is now,
The ground quenches its thirst with blood
Everything there dead and burnt, even love
Oh! Do not weep dear child,
At what you have witnessed, seen,
For 'tis but reality, the world we live in
'Tis what will be, is and has been
Another look my child,do not be scared
At yet another scene on its glassy face
Not paradise, yet not all bad
Not tained with blood, not edged with lace
An old dame limps along
Stumbling on her diseased leg
To her a fresh-faced youth hastens
To offer support, kindness, to help.
Two men start a quarrel
Voices dark with anger, faces dangerously close,
But at the sight of their sweet daughters
They part as friends, not foes
Ah! A smile I see on your face my child
I see that this has pleased you
Now you know that good and evil reside together
Like a dead bloom near one shining with dew
Trot along home now sweet child
'Tis late, but come again if you please
To glance through my looking glass once more
To wonder at all you see.
