15. Fight to a Finish. Sassoon, Siegfried. 1918. Counter-Attack and Other Poems

Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967). Counter-Attack and Other Poems. 1918.

15. Fight to a Finish

THE boys came back. Bands played and flags were flying,
And Yellow-Pressmen thronged the sunlit street
To cheer the soldiers who’d refrained from dying,
And hear the music of returning feet.
‘Of all the thrills and ardours War has brought,	5
This moment is the finest.’ (So they thought.)

Snapping their bayonets on to charge the mob,
Grim Fusiliers broke ranks with glint of steel,
At last the boys had found a cushy job. . . . .
I heard the Yellow-Pressmen grunt and squeal;	10
And with my trusty bombers turned and went
To clear those Junkers out of Parliament.