Suicide in the trenches

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 snug-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.

by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886-1967) , "Suicide in the trenches", from Cambridge Magazine, February 1918, revised 1919

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Harold Blumenfeld (1923-) , "Suicide in the trenches", published 1971 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Songs of War, no. ?
by Hugo Weisgall (1912-) , "Suicide in the trenches", published 1953, rev. 1965 [baritone and piano], from Soldier Songs for Baritone, no. 2.

Date added to the website: 2008-10-19.

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