No doubt theyll soon get well; the shock and strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.
Of course theyre longing to go out again,
These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.
Theyll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,
Their dreams that drip with murder; and theyll be proud
Of glorious war that shatterd all their pride...
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.
Survivors
written bySiegfried Sassoon
© Siegfried Sassoon