Suicide in Trenches

Suicide in Trenches

1I knew a simple soldier boy
2Who grinned at life in empty joy,
3Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
4And whistled early with the lark.
5In winter trenches, cowed and glum
7He put a bullet through his brain.
8No one spoke of him again.
     * * * * *
10Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
11Sneak home and pray you'll never know
12The hell where youth and laughter go.

Notes

6] crumps: shell-explosions. Back to Line
9] kindling: firy ("patriotic"?). Back to Line
Publication Notes
The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon (London: William Heinemann, 1919): 39. Internet Archive
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright

Out of copyright in the United States only.