Ewart Alan Mackintosh
Under the sky of battle, under the arch of the guns,
Where in a mad red torrent the river of fighting runs.
Where the shout of a strong man sounds no more than a broken groan,
And the heart of a man rejoicing stands up in its strength alone,
There in the hour of trial ; and when the battle is spent,
And we sit drinking together, laughing and well content.
Deep in my heart I am hearing a little still voice that sings,
” Well, but what will you do when there comes an end of these things ? “
Laughter, hard drinking and fighting, quarrels of friend and friend.
The eyes of the men that trust us, of all these there is an end.
No more in the raving barrage in one swift clamorous breath
We shall jest and curse together on the razor-edge of death.
Old days, old ways, old comrades, for ever and ever good-bye !
We shall walk no more in the twisted ways of the trenches, you and I,
For the nations have heard the tidings, they have sworn that wars shall cease,
And it’s all one damned long Sunday walk down the straight , flat road of peace.
Yes, we shall be raptured again by the frock-coat’s singular charm,
That goes so well with children and a loving wife on your arm,
Treading a road that is paved with family dinners and teas,
A sensible dull suburban road planted with decorous trees,
Till we come at last to the heaven our peaceable saints have trod,
Like the sort of church that our fathers built and called it a house of God,
And a God like a super-bishop in an apron and nice top-hat —
God, you are God of battles. Forbid that we come to that !
God, you are God of soldiers, merry and rough and kind,
Give to your sons an earth and a heaven more to our mind.
Meat and drink for the body, laughter and song for the soul,
And fighting and clean quick death to end and complete the whole.
Never a hope of heaven, never a fear of hell,
Only the knowledge that you are a soldier, and all is well,
And whether the end be death or a merrier life be given,
We shall have died in the pride of our youth — and that will be heaven.
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem speaks to the raw, gritty experiences of soldiers at war, capturing their complex relationship with violence, camaraderie, and the inevitable shift that peace brings. It’s a meditation on the reality of war, the transient nature of life in the trenches, and the tension between the brutal, chaotic world of battle and the dull, regulated peace that follows. The speaker, who embodies a soldier’s voice, reflects on the intense, life-affirming camaraderie of combat while simultaneously questioning what will happen when war ends, and the familiar world of fighting, drinking, and bonding vanishes.
The poem opens with a vivid depiction of war. The “mad red torrent” of the river of fighting is an apt metaphor for the chaos and violence that define the battlefield. The speaker notes how even the strongest men are reduced to broken groans in such an environment, where life and death hang in the balance. This contrast between strength and fragility, between the sounds of victory and defeat, illustrates the paradoxes of war — it both lifts and breaks men.
Yet, despite the carnage and suffering, the poem introduces a moment of reflection. After the battle is spent, when the soldiers are sitting together, “drinking and well content,” the speaker hears a “little still voice” asking the existential question: “What will you do when there comes an end of these things?” This is the central question of the poem — what becomes of men who are shaped by war, who live in the heat of battle and the depths of chaos, when peace arrives and the violence ceases? The voice is a reminder that the camaraderie, the joy, and even the pain of war are fleeting, and the end of war brings an entirely new, and perhaps less appealing, set of challenges.
The second stanza starts by marking the inevitable end of the warrior’s life. The “raving barrage” and the shared dangers that once made comrades out of strangers will fade, and with it, the rowdy, hard-drinking camaraderie of soldiers will dissolve. The “old days, old ways, old comrades” become a thing of the past, and war will give way to peace, a peace that feels both foreign and suffocating. The speaker feels a deep sense of loss, not just for the comradeship of war, but for the unique experiences that come with living on the razor’s edge of death.
The shift from the brutal world of war to the mundane, predictable life of peace is encapsulated in the imagery of the “straight, flat road of peace,” which the speaker describes as monotonous, dull, and almost oppressive. The contrast is stark. The excitement, the unpredictability, and the immediate stakes of war give way to a “frock-coat’s singular charm” — the polite, respectable life of the civilian. The “suburban road planted with decorous trees” and the image of a peaceful church with a “super-bishop” represent a sterile, conventional existence, one that is not particularly appealing to someone who has lived a life of battle and freedom.
There’s a clear disdain for this civilian life in the speaker’s tone. The “house of God” seems more like a symbol of societal conformity than spiritual enlightenment. The idea of peace is equated with a life that is too structured, too ordinary. The speaker doesn’t want a life where everything is clean, orderly, and predictable. He wants the rawness of battle, the strength of brotherhood, and the wildness of living in the moment.
The shift toward the speaker’s true desire becomes clearer in the next stanza. He prays to the “God of soldiers,” asking for a life that feels authentic, one that includes both the physical sustenance (“meat and drink for the body”) and the emotional joy (“laughter and song for the soul”). There is a desire for a life that is unburdened by the expectations of society or religion — a life that is simple, strong, and grounded in the camaraderie of fighting alongside comrades. This part of the poem calls for a raw, unrefined existence, one where the struggles and victories are immediate and real. The wish for “clean quick death” to “end and complete the whole” speaks to the soldier’s desire for an honorable death — one that comes swiftly and with purpose, rather than the slow, uncertain death of old age in a peaceful world.
In the final stanzas, the speaker rejects the conventional afterlife, with its promise of heaven or the fear of hell. Instead, the speaker longs for the pride of youth — a life lived with purpose, in the struggle, with the satisfaction of knowing one has lived fully and fiercely. The soldier’s ultimate “heaven” is not in peace or tranquility, but in the pride of his youth, the pride of having lived and fought in the moment, of having died in the midst of it all.
This poem taps into the psychological and emotional toll of war, not just in the suffering it causes, but in the way it shapes the men who live it. It acknowledges the camaraderie, the thrill, and the sense of purpose that war can bring, and the discomfort with the idea of settling into a life of peace. It raises uncomfortable questions about identity and purpose — what happens when the defining struggle of one’s life is removed? What is left behind when the battles are over, and the soldiers are no longer needed?
Ultimately, the poem offers a profound, if bleak, meditation on the soldier’s psyche — the drive for meaning, the rejection of peace, and the acceptance of the violent and chaotic world as the one that brings life its true sense of value. The soldier’s ideal “heaven” is not one of serenity or spiritual redemption, but one of action, camaraderie, and the intense emotional life that only war, in its strange and terrible way, provides.