historicall.y

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 gas- shells dropping softly 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 flound'ring 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, chocking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind that 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 blo...