Letter from the Western Front

My own dear Mother, It is a great life. I am more oblivious than alas! yourself, dear Mother, of the ghastly glimmering of the guns outside, and the hollow crashing of the shells. You will have read of the great things which have happened, and our wonderful successes. The men are just as bravely cheery and enduring as ever. I came out in order to help these boys - directly by leading them as well as an officer can; indirectly, by watching their sufferings that I may speak of them as well as a pleader can. I have done the first. Of my ability to do the second, I am proud. I don't want to be celebrated just yet. I am simply a poet in arms. My next book will be about the War. I have suffered with them and for them, and I have written what I have felt in hope that it will help others understand. Your loving son, Wilfred