Observations placeholder
Sassoon, Siegfried - I stood with the Dead
Identifier
013104
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Stanley Spencer
A description of the experience
I Stood with the Dead
I stood with the Dead, so forsaken and still:
When dawn was grey I stood with the Dead.
And my slow heart said, 'You must kill, you must kill:
Soldier, soldier, morning is red'.
On the shapes of the slain in their crumpled disgrace
I stared for a while through the thin cold rain...
'O lad that I loved, there is rain on your face,
And your eyes are blurred and sick like the plain.'
I stood with the Dead...They were dead; they were dead;
My heart and my head beat a march of dismay:
And gusts of the wind came dulled by the guns.
'Fall in!' I shouted; 'Fall in for your pay!'