by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)
The last laugh
Language: English
'Oh! Jesus Christ! I'm hit,' he said; and died. Whether he vainly cursed or prayed indeed, The Bullets chirped - In vain, vain, vain! Machine-guns chuckled, - Tut-tut! Tut-tut! And the Big Gun guffawed. Another sighed,-'O Mother, -Mother, - Dad!' Then smiled at nothing, childlike, being dead. And the lofty Shrapnel-cloud Leisurely gestured,-Fool! And the splinters spat, and tittered. 'My Love!' one moaned. Love-languid seemed his mood, Till slowly lowered, his whole faced kissed the mud. And the Bayonets' long teeth grinned; Rabbles of Shells hooted and groaned; And the Gas hissed.
Authorship:
- by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Jason Rico (b. 1978), "The last laugh" [voice, piano] [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Jason Rico
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 92