In "The Death Bed," a young man made to fight in a war he hated lies on his death bed. Sleep and death are closely related in the poem as the soldier drifts in and out of consciousness. In an extended metaphor, water carries him through this haze of dreams. Blind to the night, the soldier sees strange blots of colors. He hears the rain outside the ward as it gently soaks the woods.
When the soldier's pain flares like a wild animal, an unidentified person cares for the man. A personified death steps toward him. The speaker urges the reader to also care for the soldier, as there is still a chance to save him. Sassoon criticizes the military officials that remain safe on the sidelines while the young men they send to war die on the front lines.
But death chooses to take this soldier with him. They depart, leaving the silence of the summer night and an impression of safety in the veils of sleep. In the final line of the poem, guns thud in the distance.
