Vergissmeinnight: a German word meaning "forget me not."
This poem is about WWII. It is also about love (DUSTY!). The author, Keith Douglas, tells the story of a soldier returning to a battle ground. The battle he fought in is over, yet the body of an enemy soldier remains. He walks over to the body, and in the first 2 stanzas, the tone is very cold. He shows no sympathy for the killed man- why should he?
He picks up a picture of a girl laying next to the fallen soldier.In German on the back of the picture, "Steffi. Vergissmeinnight", is written. I believe Steffi is the name of the girl. The photo has been dishonored because the soldier was killed. The next stanza goes onto talk about how all his guns, and equipment are not physically damaged. They will not decay, yet he will. I think that is a very interesting part of the poem. When I read this part I thought of the bigger picture. The equipment was war, war will never decay. War will always be there, yet the people that use war, that give it so much value, THEY will decay. They will die. I think this notion is backwards. The picture, the soldier and the equipment show three different things. The lover, or love, as shown by the picture is effected even greater after the soldier is killed, because her love lives on. She still feels the hurt that the guns inflicted.
I don't know how to conclude this... but man, this poem was cool.
<3
It is cool. The poet was actually a soldier who stormed the beach at Normandy.
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