Suicide in the Trenches
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
Siegfried Sassoon, 1918
3 comments:
What powerful words by Sassoon. Never heard before but they describe the hell of a war at it's best
Extraordinarily powerful words.
The 'soldier boys' were so forsaken. It does us well to think, when we moan about 'the conditions' we face, by any comparison, this is now the land of milk and honey. I have never had a major illness or had to fight in a war. I feel blessed by the luck of it and sorrow for them.
- S.R.C
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