Suddenly he awoke and was running – raw
The opening line of the poem is an example of a literary technique known as in media res, meaning reader (or viewer) is dropped right into middle action without any knowing the circumstances which led to that moment. Notable examples of this technique include Goodfellas and the pilot episode of Breaking Bad which both begin with characters in movement like this poem. The big difference, of course, is that both those examples proceed to go back in time and explain in detail what brought their characters to the moment in which the narrative opens. The backstory of why this character is in pictured in a moment of intense distress which very strongly hints at a dramatic origin for his desperation is left out of the tale, leaving a mystery for readers to contemplate and fill in as they see fit.
He was running
Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs
Listening between his footfalls for the reason
Of his still running
The mystery of what has stimulated this desperate run for life is limited only to the specifics. The poet makes quite clear the horrors of war and the psychological trauma it inflicts. Something specific before he suddenly awoke to the realization he was running, but the speaker isn’t too concerned about it. This passage indicates why: the simile makes a comparison that creates an image of purposeless movement. The repetition of the word “running” in such a short space is utilized to cement the idea that he is running at full speed for some primal reason even he doesn’t understand. His running is compared to an image of absolute irrationality: the man portrayed as suddenly running across a dark room without reason is an almost an act madness except for the fact that while he may not know what he’s running from, he knows he needs to be running from something.
King, honour, human dignity, etcetera
Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm
This is a war poem, and war poems are generally expected to be about bravery, courage and patriotic ideas. The poem dares to ask the question what are we fighting for and rejecting answers like king and country. The running soldier has reached the point in in the terror and confusion wrought by the inhumanity of war at which those kinds of answers to that question no longer apply. The idea of being a cog in the machinery of war or a pawn in a political chess game no longer justifies the irrationality of his being targeted for execution for crimes he never committed.
