Thoughts on war: Siegfried Sassoon – The Hero (1916) (Published on 31/10/2026)
The Hero
by Siegfried Sassoon
»Jack fell as he’d have wished«, the Mother said,
And folded up the letter that she’d read.
»The Colonel writes so nicely.« Something broke
In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.
She half looked up. »We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.« Then her face was bowed.
Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He’d told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt.
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he’d been so brave, her glorious boy.
He thought how »Jack«, cold-footed, useless swine,
Had panicked down the trench that night the mine
Went up at Wicked Comer; how he’d tried
To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,
Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care
Except that lonely woman with white hair.
(source: Poems of the Great War 1914-1918 [Penguin Books, 1998], p. 132)
You can find more on Siegfried Sassoon here.
Poems by English participants in World War I are among the timeless reminders of the folly of war, such as the works of MacLeish, McCrae, Binyon, Brooke or Flint.
(Head picture: Gravestone at the British military cemetery Reichswald
near Kleve/Germany, November 2025)
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