The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #39827   Message #570415
Posted By: The Walrus at work
12-Oct-01 - 08:29 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: War poetry
Subject: Lyr Add: SUICIDE IN THE TRENCHES (S Sassoon)
Gareth,

It's from Sassoon's "Suicide in the trenches" :

SUICIDE IN THE TRENCHES
By Siegfried Sassoon

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.

Walrus