Siegfried Sassoon

"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldi...

To these I turn, in these I trust;
Brother Lead and Sister Steel
To his blind power I make appeal;
I guard her beauty clean from rust

I found him in the guard-room at the Base
From the blind darkness I had heard his crying And blundered in
With puzzled, patient face A sergeant watched him; it was no good trying To stop it; for he howled and beat his chest
And, all...

His wet white face and miserable eyes Brought nurses to him more than groans and sighs: But hoarse and low and rapid rose and fell His troubled voice: he did the business well
The ward grew dark; but he was still complaining And calling out f...

Quietly they set their burden down: he
To grin; moaned; moved his head from side to side
He gripped the stretcher; stiffened; glared; and screamed,"O put my leg down, doctor, do
" (He'd gotA bullet in his ankle; and he'd been

Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake, Out in the trench with three hours’ watch to take, I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light
Hark

Lost in the swamp and welter of the pit,
He flounders off the duck-boards; only he knows Each flash and spouting crash,—each instant lit When gloom reveals the streaming rain
He goes Heavily, blindly on
And, while he blunders, "...