As The 100th Anniversary Of The Beginning of World War I (Remember The War To End All Wars) Starts ... Some Remembrances-Poet’s Corner

Geoffrey Faber

Home Service

"At least it wasn't your fault" I hear them console

When they come back, the few that will come back.

I feel those handshakes now. "Well, on the whole

You didn't miss much. I wish I had your knack

Of stopping out. You still can call your soul

Your own, at any rate. What a priceless slack

You've had, old chap. It must have been top-hole.

How's poetry? I bet you've written a stack."

What shall I say? That it's been damnable?

That all the time my soul was never my own?

That we've slaved hard at endless make-believe?

It isn't only actual war that's hell,

I'll say. It's spending youth and hope alone

Among pretences that have ceased to deceive.