by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985)
A Dead Boche
Language: English
To you who'd read my songs of War And only hear of blood and fame, I'll say (you've heard it said before) 'War's Hell! ' and if you doubt the same, Today I found in Mametz Wood A certain cure for lust of blood: Where, propped against a shattered trunk, In a great mess of things unclean, Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk With clothes and face a sodden green, Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired, Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "A Dead Boche", appears in Goliath and David, first published 1916 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Eric McElroy , "A Dead Boche", 2017 [ voice and piano ], from A Dead Man's Embers - Six Poems of Robert Graves, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 82