Suicide in the Trenches

"Suicide in the Trenches" is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, written during his First World War military service and published in his 1918 collection: "Counter-Attack and Other Poems".

The Poem

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

Cultural References

Siegfried Sassoon provided much influence to Pete Doherty, Carl Barat and The Libertines. An early Libertines song, 'Lean As A Runner Bean', contains a line from the poem ("The hell where youth and laughter go"), and Doherty would later put music to the poem during a BBC Radio 4 interview. You can listen to this interpretation at [http://www.albionarks.com/media/details.php?image_id=1723&mode=search Albion Arks]

Doherty and Barat also recited the poem, line by line, to each other at the NME Awards in 2004 upon collecting an award.