A Dead Boche Poem by Robert Graves

A Dead Boche

Rating: 2.9

To you who'd read my songs of War
And only hear of blood and fame,
I'll say (you've heard it said before)
'War's Hell! ' and if you doubt the same,
Today I found in Mametz Wood
A certain cure for lust of blood:

Where, propped against a shattered trunk,
In a great mess of things unclean,
Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk
With clothes and face a sodden green,
Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired,
Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.

A Dead Boche
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
olu Ogunyale 13 September 2015

Boche = German soldier

19 5 Reply
ka 07 July 2022

boche means cabbage head.

3 0
Lantz Pierre 01 March 2017

Mother truckin' horror. War is real people killing real people. Look into the face of your dead, decaying, bloating enemy. That could just as well be you. This poem pulls the veil back. The moral victory is for those who don't fight and kill.

14 10 Reply
boy liker 420 06 December 2021

i dont like you nor do i like ur family

6 2
Edward Kofi Louis 01 March 2017

Songs of war! ! Destroying the earth. Thanks for sharing.

9 14 Reply

There is no enemy in war. War is the enemy!

6 0 Reply
Chinedu Dike 28 May 2022

Amazing eloquence and emotions. A poignant but apt depiction of the horrors of war.

1 0 Reply
Gabriel 22 February 2022

Hey william

0 2 Reply
Gabriel 22 February 2022

Hey william, my babesxxx

0 2 Reply
Iciql 22 February 2022

Gabrielxxx

0 1 Reply
Robert Graves

Robert Graves

London / England
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