Siegfried Sassoon was a poet who wrote prolifically about World War I. One of his most powerful poems follows. What do you think of it?
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.
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2 comments:
Martha, you are a technical whiz kid. The blog looks great. Now I'll read the poem by Vidal Sassoon (just kidding).
I think that the last two lines of this are particularly powerful and appropriate, especially given the current situation in Iraq. The toll on our young soldiers is unfathomable.
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