"Glory of Women" – digt af Siegfried Sassoon, 1917
Fra såvel Tyskland, Rusland, Italien, Frankrig som England kender vi til digte fra første verdenskrig. Digte skrevet af både soldaterne ved fronten og kvinderne, der selv var aktive, mest med sygepleje, eller der levede væk fra livet ved fronten. Siegfried Sassoon blev en af det mest kendte og kritiske soldaterdigtere fra krigen.
Glory of women
You love us when we're heroes, home on leave,
Or wounded in a mentionable place.
You worship decorations; you believe
That chivalry redeems the war's disgrace.
You make us shells. You listen with delight,
By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled.
You crown our distant ardours while we fight,
And mourn our laurelled memories when we're killed.
You can't believe that British troops 'retire'
When hell's last horror breaks them, and they run,
Trampling the terrible corpses – blind with blood.
O German mother dreaming by the fire,
While you are knitting socks to send your son
His face is trodden deeper in the mud.
Fra: The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (Penguin Books, 1996), s.132.
