Concert Party

by Siegfried Sassoon (1920) — a poem card from Justes Mots

Sassoon depicts soldiers gathering for an entertainment concert during WWI, drawn by songs that evoke memories of home and loved ones. The poem captures the poignancy of wartime morale-boosting efforts and the soldiers' silent hunger for peacetime life. It serves as a reflective meditation on how music sustains hope amid the horror of war.

They are gathering round. . .
Out of the twilight; over the grey-blue sand,
Shoals of low-jargoning men drift inward to the sound—
The jangle and throb of a piano. . .tum-ti-tum. . .
Drawn by a lamp, they come
Out of the glimmering lines of their tents, over the shuffling sand.

O sing us the songs, the songs of our own land,…

Themes: sympathy · grief · reflection · long-distance