The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon
page 47 of 61 (77%)
page 47 of 61 (77%)
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Their wrongs were mine; and ever in my sight
They went arrayed in honour. But they died,-- Not one by one: and mutinous I cried To those who sent them out into the night. The darkness tells how vainly I have striven To free them from the pit where they must dwell In outcast gloom convulsed and jagged and riven By grappling guns. Love drove me to rebel. Love drives me back to grope with them through hell; And in their tortured eyes I stand forgiven. AUTUMN October's bellowing anger breaks and cleaves The bronzed battalions of the stricken wood In whose lament I hear a voice that grieves For battle's fruitless harvest, and the feud Of outraged men. Their lives are like the leaves Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown Along the westering furnace flaring red. O martyred youth and manhood overthrown, The burden of your wrongs is on my head. REPRESSION OF WAR EXPERIENCE Now light the candles; one; two; there's a moth; What silly beggars they are to blunder in |
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