Part of a series of images I drew in 2014 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first world war.
All 5 are based on poetry written by soldiers who fought during the war.

MEMORY
by Siegfried Sassoon

When I was young my heart and head were light,
And I was gay and feckless as a colt
Out in the fields, with morning in the may,
Wind on the grass, wings in the orchard bloom.
O thrilling sweet, my joy, when life was free,
And all the paths led on from hawthorn-time
Across the carolling meadows into June.

But now my heart is heavy-laden. I sit
Burning my dreams away beside the fire:
For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;
And I am rich in all that I have lost.
O starshine on the fields of long-ago,
Bring me the darkness and the nightingale;
Dim wealds of vanished summer, peace of home,
And silence; and the faces of my friends.

You can read this and other poems from the First World War
at the First World War Poetry Digital Archive: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/