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Wilfred Owen's haunting and stark portrayal of the confusion and alarm experienced by a 1st World War soldier during a gas attack on one of the killing fields of France in 1917.

In the final stanza the poet spits out the line Dulce e decorum est pro patria mori. "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country" A grim testimony to the futility and filth of warfare and the heartbreaking nobility of those called upon to wage it.



Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

A very moving poem, haunting.

From the memoirs of General Eric von Falkenhayn


General Ludenhoff. "The English soldiers fight like Lions"

General Hoffman. "True. But dont we know they are led by donkeys"

Poignant brilliance once again; thanks CD and Arm!

You forced my arm (excuse the pun) once more!

Just back from The Cenotaph in actual fact gentlemen. I was amazed to see so many elderly gentlemen in wheelchairs wearing British Army uniform.

It just makes it all the more incredible that we beat the Germans at all given the frailty of our troops doesn't it?

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

Bless 'em all,
Bless 'em all.
The long and the short and the tall,

Bless all those Sergeants and WO1's,
Bless all those Corporals and their blinkin'/bleedin' sons,
Cos' we're saying goodbye to 'em all.
And back to their Billets they crawl,
You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean,
So cheer up my lads bless 'em all

My Grandad, was in the Royal Horse Artillery. The one time he spoke about the western front. Was to tell me, that he didnt care about killing men, or seeing men die, that was part and parcel of war. What he hated, and never forgave himself for, was having to shoot horses, because they were either lame, or needed for food.

Arm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx