Thursday, July 10, 2014

Poem of the day


Atrocities
You told me, in your drunken-boasting
mood,
How once you butchered prisoners. That
was good!
I'm sure you felt no pity while they stood
Patient and cowed and scared, as
prisoners should.
How did you do them in? Come, don't
be shy:
You know I love to hear how Germans die,
Downstairs in dug-outs. "Camerad!"
they cry;
Then squeal like stoats when bombs
begin to fly.
And you? I know your record. You
went sick
When orders looked unwholesome:
then, with trick
And lie, you wangled home. And here
you are,
Still talking big and boozing in a bar.
Siegfried Sassoon (1917)
This poem was censored during the First World War

4 Comments:

Blogger Angus said...

Jarringly great.

2:29 pm  
Blogger Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Censored - I bet it was!

2:41 pm  
Anonymous Portinari said...

Just finished reading, for the second time since my callow youth,Robert Graves' 'Goodbye to All That'. I am sure that you and your readers will have. If not - please do and especially so in this the centenary year of the outbreak of the obscenity called 'The Great War'. There is much of Siegfried Sassoon and others of the War poets.

10:36 am  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

Greetings Portinari - yes I've read that.

10:53 am  

Post a Comment

<< Home