{"id":283,"date":"2010-03-11T02:29:43","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T02:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=283"},"modified":"2024-05-18T14:44:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T14:44:11","slug":"the-rear-guard-by-siegfried-sassoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/the-rear-guard-by-siegfried-sassoon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rear-Guard by Siegfried Sassoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)<\/p>\n

THE REAR-GUARD<\/h4>\n

(Hindenburg Line, April 1917.)<\/p>\n

Groping along the tunnel, step by step,
\nHe winked his prying torch with patching glare
\nFrom side to side, and sniffed the unwholesome air.<\/p>\n

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes too vague to know,
\nA mirror smashed, the mattress from a bed;
\nAnd he, exploring fifty feet below
\nThe rosy gloom of battle overhead.<\/p>\n

Tripping, he grabbed the wall; saw some one lie
\nHumped at his feet, half-hidden by a rug,
\nAnd stooped to give the sleeper’s arm a tug.
\n“I’m looking for headquarters.” No reply.
\n“God blast your neck!” (For days he’d had no sleep,)
\n“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”
\nSavage, he kicked a soft, unanswering heap,
\nAnd flashed his beam across the livid face
\nTerribly glaring up, whose eyes yet wore
\nAgony dying hard ten days before;
\nAnd fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.<\/p>\n

Alone he staggered on until he found
\nDawn’s ghost that filtered down a shafted stair
\nTo the dazed, muttering creatures underground
\nWho hear the boom of shells in muffled sound.
\nAt last, with sweat of horror in his hair,
\nHe climbed through darkness to the twilight air,
\nUnloading hell behind him step by step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sassoon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t