‘The effect of our bombardment was terrific. <br />One man told me he had never seen so many dead before.’ <br />—War Correspondent. <br /> <br /> <br />‘He'd never seen so many dead before.’ <br />They sprawled in yellow daylight while he swore <br />And gasped and lugged his everlasting load <br />Of bombs along what once had been a road. <br />‘How peaceful are the dead.’ <br />Who put that silly gag in some one’s head? <br /> <br />‘He’d never seen so many dead before.’ <br />The lilting words danced up and down his brain, <br />While corpses jumped and capered in the rain. <br />No, no; he wouldn’t count them any more... <br />The dead have done with pain: <br />They’ve choked; they can’t come back to life again. <br /> <br />When Dick was killed last week he looked like that, <br />Flapping along the fire-step like a fish, <br />After the blazing crump had knocked him flat... <br />‘How many dead? As many as ever you wish. <br />Don’t count ’em; they’re too many. <br />Who’ll buy my nice fresh corpses, two a penny?<br /><br />Siegfried Sassoon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-effect/
