Colors
Leaf Lyrics

I see you've found a box of my things -
I notice that you have discovered some of my belongings.

Infantries, tanks and smoldering airplane wings.
These are items that were utilized during wartime, including soldiers, tanks and damaged airplanes.

These old pictures are cool. Tell me some stories
These aged photographs are quite interesting. Please share some of the tales that they bring to mind.

Was it like the old war movies?
Did the actual conflict resemble the battles that are commonly portrayed in films about war?

Sit down son. Let me fill you in
Please take a seat, and I will provide further details.

Where to begin? Let's start with the end
There is much to cover. Shall we begin at the end of the ordeal?

This black and white photo don't capture the skin
Photos may only seem to show an incomplete representation of the situation; they may not reveal the full extent of the damage that was caused.

From the flash of a gun to a soldier who's done
From the moment when the firearm was fired, the fate of a soldier who would never again participate in warfare has been decided.

Trust me grandson
I hope you will believe and respect my account of this historical moment, my grandson.

The war was in color
This conflict was unlike anything that most people could have ever imagined.

From shipyard to sea, From factory to sky
Every aspect of life was consumed by this war - from the places where ships were built down to the horizon of the skies.

From rivet to rifle, from boot camp to battle cry
Every component of the military machine, from the smallest items like screws and rivets to large weapons like rifles, played a role in this war.

I wore the mask up high on a daylight run
I was forced to wear a gas mask during one of the daylight operations.

That held my face in its clammy hand
The mask seemed to grasp at my face, making me feel somewhat uneasy.

Crawled over coconut logs and corpses in the coral sand
I had to cross treacherous and dangerous terrain that was littered with the remains of fellow soldiers and natural obstacles.

From the shock of a shell or the memory of smell
What had the most lasting impact on me was the sound of an exploding shell or the lasting memory of a noxious smell.

If red is for Hell
If the color red is associated with the underworld or hell itself,

The war was in color
then this war could be considered as being the equivalent of hell on earth.

I held the canvas bag over the railing
I hoisted a bag made of cloth over the side of the ship.

The dead released, with the ship still sailing,
I let go of the bag containing the bodies of the deceased sailors, and the ship continued moving.

Out of our hands and into the swallowing sea
The bag and its contents were no longer under our control, and they were swallowed up by the ocean's waves.

I felt the crossfire stitching up soldiers
I witnessed firsthand the damage that weapons could inflict on others, including the way that bullets seemed to sew soldiers together in a gruesome way.

Into a blanket of dead, and as the night grows colder
As the night grew colder, the bodies of the deceased became like a blanket that covered the ship.

In a window back home, a Blue Star is traded for Gold.
At home, families who had displayed Blue Star banners were respected - which indicated that they had a family member serving in the war - and after they lost their loved one, the Blue Star was exchanged for the Gold Star that indicated that they had lost a son or daughter.

When metal is churned. And bodies are burned
The war was filled with scenes that defied the imagination of anyone who had not experienced them - when minds, bodies and materials were transformed and consumed in these conflicts.

Victory earned
Although it was a brutal, hard-fought conflict, success was ultimately attained.

Now I lay in my grave at age 21
I am buried in my grave at the age of 21.

Long before you were born
You had not yet been born when I was living through these experiences.

Before I bore a son
Before I became a father.

What good did it do?
What is the use of going through this conflict?

Well hopefully for you
I hope that my efforts will have been beneficial to you.

A world without war
I hope that future generations will not have to go through the same things that I experienced.

A life full of color
A life filled with hope, happiness and vibrancy.

Once it was torn from an enemy thorn
The wound that I carried resulted from an enemy combatant's bayonet or other weapon.

Straight through the core
The inflicted injury pierced me deeply and affected me in every way possible.