Suicide in the trenches | I knew a simple soldier boy

by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886 - 1967)

Suicide in the trenches

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

 *       *       *       *       *

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

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Confirmed with Siegfried Sassoon, COUNTER-ATTACK and other poems, E.P .Dutton and company, New York, 1918, page 31

Composition:

Michael Ippolito

Six Sassoon Songs

Text Authorship:

by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886 - 1967), "Suicide in the trenches", from Cambridge Magazine, February 1918, revised 1919

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-10-19
Line count: 13
Word count: 84