The Gordon Highlander's Museum

The Gordon Highlander's Museum, Aberdeen.

It's Harry's birthday and his pals wish him well

Gathering round and relishing old age

Here in the Gordon's Museum Tearoom

Where you get a good scone

And if you're retired a new purpose in life

As a guide or a gardener or a waiter.

How well this eccentric snow white mansion

Presents the noble face of the regiment,

Honours displayed for all to admire.

Brave under fire on the Western Front,

Heroes of Alamein, fighting through Italy

Surviving imprisonment, our lives to inspire.

But look more closely at the oil paintings,

The sepia images and the Pathé News,

Beyond the kilts, the pipes and drums.

See laddies perish under foreign skies

See families shattered, quiet and weeping

See power games played with human lives.

Still, come, enjoy your tea and cake,

Support this memorial to courage and pride

Ensure these medals, photos, survival stories

Lay bare the evils of confrontation

To many future generations

Lest they forget what passed before.