Il Povero Soldato

The poor soldier is sentenced to death,
far from his wife, close to the colonel.
When he wakes up in the morning to be shot,
he pretends to be sick and says he can't.
But the military doctor checks his pulse and says:
"Your illness is all lies".
The soldiers arrive in a row, worn out,
and their straight rifles made him suffer.
The honest condemned man asks to speak:
military law forbids him to be silent.
The colonel, dressed, brandishes his sword
and orders him to be shot to death.
The guns fire, the soldier falls,
and all the blood invades his tunic and cap.
But here comes the pardon to save him,
he returns to the barracks happy to do his duty