Geoffrey Dearmer
We never feel the lust of steel
Or fury-woken blood,
We live and die and wonder why
In mud, and mud, and mud,
And horror first and horror last
And Phantom Terror riding past.
We hear and hear the hounds of Fear
Nearer and more near.
We feel their breath….
Only the nights befriend
And mitigate the hell;
Of those who ponder, see and hear,
Too well.
The nights, and Death –
The end.
We feel but never fear
His breath.
Day after weary day,
In vain, in vain, in vain,
We turn to Thee and pray,
We cry and cry again –
“O lord of Battle, why
Should we alone be sane?”
We stifle cries with lightless eyes
And face eternal night;
We stifle cries to sacrifice
Our eyes for Human Sight.
And many give that men may live,
A life, a limb, a brain,
That fellow men may understand
And be for ever sane.
What matter if we lose a hand
If others wander hand in hand;
Or lose a foot if others greet
The dawn of peace with dancing feet;
What matter if we die unheard
If others hear the Poet’s Word?
Because we pay from day to day
The price of sacrifice;
Because we face each dreary place
Again, again, again.
Lord, set us free from Sanity –
Who feel no fighting thrill;
Must we remain for ever sane
And never learn to kill?
No answer came. In very shame
Our long-unheeded cry
Grew bitterly more bitterly,
“O why, O why, O why.
May we not feel the lust of steel
The fury-woken thrill –
For men may learn to live and die
And never learn to kill?”
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poignant poem captures the disillusionment and inner torment of soldiers caught in the chaos and horror of war, where the violence of battle strips them of their humanity and their sense of self. The speaker’s voice is filled with a profound sense of futility and anguish, as they question their roles in a war that seems to dehumanize them, rendering them trapped between life and death, sanity and madness.
The opening lines immediately establish the tone of bleakness and despair: “We never feel the lust of steel / Or fury-woken blood,” conveying that the soldiers do not experience the thrill or glory often associated with combat. Instead, they live in a perpetual cycle of “mud, and mud, and mud,” a metaphor for both the physical conditions of the battlefield and the moral quagmire they find themselves in. The repetition of “mud” emphasizes the suffocating, inescapable nature of their existence, where every day is spent mired in violence and horror.
The refrain “We hear and hear the hounds of Fear / Nearer and more near” brings in the metaphor of hounds, signifying the ever-encroaching nature of terror that looms over the soldiers. Fear, like a relentless predator, is a constant companion, “breathing” down their necks. The hounds could also be a symbol of the primal instincts awakened by the war: fear, survival, and death, all of which continue to close in on them as the war rages on.
The poem speaks to the emotional numbness that war inflicts on its participants: “We feel but never fear / His breath.” This line suggests that while the soldiers are acutely aware of death, it no longer holds the same terror for them. Death, in its inevitability, becomes something to be endured rather than feared, and the soldiers are resigned to it, as they face each day with the knowledge that they are expendable.
The speaker then shifts to the theme of sacrifice, another central motif of the poem. “We stifle cries to sacrifice / Our eyes for Human Sight” implies that soldiers must suppress their humanity and endure physical and emotional pain for a greater cause—presumably, for the preservation of others’ lives or for a future peace. The line “What matter if we lose a hand / If others wander hand in hand” underscores the idea that the sacrifices made by soldiers are for the benefit of those who will never fully understand the cost of that sacrifice. There is a stark contrast between the horrors faced by the soldiers and the peaceful lives others will lead in the future, untouched by the violence that has shaped their existence.
The repeated plea, “O lord of Battle, why / Should we alone be sane?” reveals the soldiers’ confusion and disillusionment with their own survival. They long for the release from the emotional weight of war, questioning why they alone must bear the burden of sanity when others have the luxury of peace. The phrase “Lord, set us free from Sanity” reflects the desire to escape the burden of rational thought, which makes them fully aware of the horrors they are experiencing. In their desperation, they yearn to feel the “lust of steel” or the “fury-woken thrill,” emotions that might momentarily numb their suffering and give them a sense of purpose or agency amidst the madness.
Yet the cry for release is unanswered. The soldiers’ frustration grows as they realize that their torment is unacknowledged and unaddressed, and the question “May we not feel the lust of steel / The fury-woken thrill?” becomes a bitter lament. The soldiers are trapped in a cycle of emotional numbness and senseless violence, unable to reconcile the atrocities they are forced to commit with their own moral compass. The longing for the “lust of steel” hints at a desire for some form of empowerment or redemption, even through the act of violence itself. The speaker’s frustration with this desire for violence as an escape underscores the profound confusion and moral conflict at the heart of war.
At its core, this poem is a meditation on the emotional and psychological toll that war takes on its participants. The soldiers are caught between the longing for peace and the overwhelming weight of their experiences. They want to escape the horror and find solace, but they are also complicit in the violence they face daily. Their desire to feel something, to be released from the numbness of war, is a cry for meaning in a world that has stripped them of everything familiar and human. The poem powerfully illustrates how war not only devastates the body but also corrodes the soul, leaving its participants caught in a state of moral and emotional turmoil.
In its desperate tone and themes of sacrifice, fear, and disillusionment, the poem captures the agony of those who endure the horrors of war. It asks difficult questions about humanity, sanity, and the price of survival, while also exposing the stark contrasts between the soldiers’ experience and the life of those untouched by the violence around them. The soldiers’ ultimate cry—”O why, O why, O why”—speaks to a profound existential crisis, and the poem leaves the reader with a sense of lingering uncertainty, as the soldiers struggle to understand what it means to live, to fight, and to die.