The wisest were just the poor and simple people. They knew the war to be a misfortune$$$ whereas those who were better off$$$ and should have been able to see more clearly what the consequences would be$$$ were beside themselves with joy.

Here I sit and there you are lying; we have so much to say$$$ and we shall never say it.

We were never very demonstrative in our family; poor folk who toil and are full of cares are not so. It is not their way to protest what they already know. When my mother says to me "dear boy$$$" it means much more than when another uses it.

If only they would not look at one so-What great misery can be in two such small spots$$$ no bigger than a man's thumb-in their eyes!

our heads were full of nebulous ideas$$$ which cast an idealized$$$ almost romantic glow over life

we developed a firm$$$ practical feeling of solidarity$$$ which grew$$$ on the battlefield$$$ into the best thing that the war produced - comradeship in arms.

The tension has worn us out. It is a deadly tension that feels as if a jagged knife blade is being scraped along the spine. Our legs won't function$$$ our hands are trembling and our bodies are like thin membranes stretched over barely repressed madness$$$ holding in what would otherwise be an unrestrained outburst of endless scream.s. We have no flesh$$$ no muscle now

And in the night you realize$$$ when you wake out of a dream$$$ overcome and captivated by the enchantment of visions that crowd in on each other$$$ just how fragile a handhold$$$ how tenuous a boundary separates us from darkness - we are little flames$$$ inadequately sheltered by thin walls from the tempest of dissolution and insensibility in which we flicker and are often all but extinguished. Then the muted sounds of battle surrounds us$$$ and we creep into ourselves and stare wide-eyed into the night.

Then we change our possy and lie down again to play cards. We know how to do that: to play cards$$$ to swear$$$ and to fight. Not much for twenty years;--and yet too much for twenty years.

And be very careful at the front$$$ Paul.”Ah$$$ Mother$$$ Mother! Why do I not take you in my arms and die with you. What poor wretches we are!