Supine Sleeper

The Dug-Out
By Siegfried Sassoon

Why do you lie with your legs ungainly huddled,
And one arm bent across your sullen cold,
Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch you,
Deep shadow’d from the candle’s guttering gold;
And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder;
Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head . . .
You are too young to fall asleep forever;
And when you sleep you remind me of the dead.


Big Frank Dickinson’s Travesty of The Dug-Out

Supine Sleeper
By Big Frank Dickinson

Why do you lie on your back so exposed,
Gazing with closed eyes at the ceiling, with
Peacefully resolved face? What do you see?
It hurts my heart to remember,
How at your side I read that peaceful pose;
And you alarmed at my unease.
Your hooded gaze is upward still . . .
But too far now for me to see,
Supine sleeper alone unread.