All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

go off and once or twice. I would recognize them at any distance. Then disappear. sit down on my and wait. They wave they I pack

Suddenly I become filled with a to be consuming impatience gone.

The names of the stations begin to take on meaning and my trembles. The stamps and stamps onward. heart train

street A - . by the , I myself away. cros sing I stand window drag cannot

I repeat to myself the name of the street that we cross over-Bremerstrasse- - Bremerstrasse

It is a grey and a grey ;-it affects me as though it were my mother. street subway Mother

Then the train stops, and t is the station with and and signboards. I pick up my pack and fasten the s I take my in my hand and the steps. here cries noise traps rifle down stumble

A offers me something to drink. I turn away, she smiles at me too foolishly, so obsessed with her own importance: “Just look, I am giving a soldier !”-She calls me “ ,” but I will have none of it. red-cross sister coffee Comrade

Then at last before the with its and my grows heavy. I open the door and a strange comes out to meet me. I stand brown door worn latch hand Coolness

“Paul-” “Paul,” she cries, I my pack bumps agai nst nod my rifle the is bani sters; heavy. so

She pulls a door open and calls: mother, mother, Paul is here. I can go no further “Mother, mother, Paul is here.”

I lean against the wall and grip and . I hold them as tight as I can, but I cannot take another step, the staircase fades before my eyes. my helmet rifle

support self with the butt of rifle against feet and clench teeth fiercely, but cannot speak a word, sister’s call has made . I my my my my I my powerless me

I stand on the steps, , , , and against my will the tears run down my cheeks. miserable helpless paralysed

All Quiet on the Western Front