Dreamers
Dreamers
Original Text
The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon (London: William Heinemann, 1919): 13. Internet Archive
1Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,
2 Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
3In the great hour of destiny they stand,
4 Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
5Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
6 Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
7Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
8 They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.
9I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
10 And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
11Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
12 And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
13Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
14 And going to the office in the train.
Publication Start Year
1918
Publication Notes
Counter-attack
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright
Out of copyright in the United States only.