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.
Notes
Camerad: the German soldiers used this word Kamerad (friend) when surrendering to the Allied troops.
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From guest suseann
Such painful real life experiences penned within these lines. War is ugly of that there is no doubt. And this author finds reason,of possible healing in letting go on the venomous hatred of the enemy. Telling the story of cowardness as it was perceived in them.
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very moving
An interesting angle, and means of making a point.
There's a huge amount of bullshit talked in bars throughout the land - every night!
I've read about 3 of his poems so far, and I really like his attitude towards the war ; the wastefulness of it ; the hypocrisy of its combatants!
RT. -
It's a well-known fact that Sassoon hated the war but he also hated thos who, by their own lies and deception tried to escape from it. He sees a man drinking in a bar boasting of the fact that he lobbed a grenade on German prisoners and killed them yet, when actual fighting was taking place he lied and pretended to get home. He was a coward, bosting about the Germans he killed but on being confronted he was shown to be exactly what he was.
The obvious hatred of cruelty and cowardice in this poem leaves the reader in no doublt about Sassoon's own feeling.
Von
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