If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
The start of the poem introduces the main conflict to the audience. The narrator, a soldier in the battle, taunts the personified bullet to come and get his body. The setting of a modern war period becomes immediately clear, as does the mental strength of the soldier. This initial mentioning of the body already goes into a depth of description that allows for a more emotional response from the audience. The description of the body parts harmed by the bullet that follows only intensify this personal connection.
And I dare you to finish what you’ve started.
The central line of the poem divides the two thematic blocks from each other. Before that the bullet was doing its business, wreaking havoc in the body of the soldier. After this line, the narrator takes over and shows his mental strength by taunting the bullet, showing it that its destruction does not weaken their mind.
here is where the world ends, every time.
The poem ends in a sombre line, stating that the world always ends like this. It is open to interpretation if here is referring to the battlefield or to the previous strong state of mind of the soldier. The first interpretation can be read as a note on the stupidity of humankind that manages to destroy its own world through warfare, while the second evokes more personal connection to the soldier. Their world ends, the world of those that love them ends. Both versions create a bitter taste in the minds of the audience, fitting for the end of a war poem.
