The man in this passage has been killed in warfare. He has been living in front line trenches for many weeks, and has therefore made friends, who, after his death, are still alive, left in the war. He is reflecting (in heaven, or wherever you believe in) on his last few days in the trenches. He is thinking now, alive, wherever he is, about his friends, and his regrets and desires about the war.

Yesterday I found lice in my shirt again. They were crawling in the seams. My friends showed me a funny newsletter about lice. They’re not funny. They’re everywhere. Yesterday we ate stale bread again. It sticks in your throat. I wanted some real food but there wasn’t any. There is now. Cheese that messes up your gut and sausages from dogs meat.

Yesterday I had mud everywhere again. My boots were caked with it. Everywhere stank of it. Everywhere has it. Mud.

We were attacking yesterday. We were in the front line trench again. Always in the front line trench. How I want a drink in a pretty French village. But I never can. I never will.

Yesterday my feet swelled. Yesterday my feet were rotting. They were cold and wet. I was cold and wet. Everything was cold and wet. And dirty.

5 days ago we cut our barbed wire. We prepared for attack. We cut the barbed wire. The Germans saw us. They saw us and they bombed us. Yesterday the bullets cut through us like knives. Like sharp knives.

And then I was gone. I was gone and I was dead. I was gone. 

Today I didn’t find lice in my shirt. Today there was no funny newsletter. I ate no stale bread. I had no mud. I did no attacking. No drink in a pretty French village. My feet didn’t swell. They did not rot. They were not cold and wet. They were not dirty.

Today they cut their barbed wire. They were preparing for attack. The Germans saw them. They saw them and they bombed them. The bullets cut through them like knives. Sharp knives.  

And they went over the top. They walked like heroes into the mist. They walked through their barbed wire, gun in hand. And as I looked at them I saw them disappear. Oh, they disappeared. Only some would come back.

I will be meeting the rest soon. We can talk about the war. About the war. The war. War? War. 

Oh yes, it was a Great War. 

A great war.