From "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed

through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost

their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame;

all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines (shells)

that dropped behing.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--an ecstasy

of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out

and stumbling

And flound' ring like a man in fire of lime....

Dim, through the misty panes and thick

green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowining.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering,

choking, drowning.

Question:

In Owen's poem, what do they do?