In the Pink by Siegfried Sassoon

 video

Text:

Stanza 1:

So Davies wrote: ' This leaves me in the pink. '
Then scrawled his name: ' Your loving sweetheart Willie '
With crosses for a hug. He'd had a drink
Of rum and tea; and, though the barn was chilly,
For once his blood ram warm; he had pay to spend,
Winter was passing; soon the year would mend.

  Meaning:

Scrawled: write (something) in a hurried, careless way.

Rum: an alcoholic spirit distilled from sugar-cane residues or molasses.

Barn: A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In the North American area, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.

Stanza 2:

He couldn't sleep that night. Stiff in the dark
He groaned and thought of Sundays at the farm,
When he'd go out as cheerful as a lark
In his best suit to wander arm-in-arm
With brown-eyed Gwen, and whisper in her ear
The simple, silly things she liked to hear.

Meaning:

Groaned:  make a deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, pleasure, etc.

Wander: walk or move in a leisurely or aimless way.

Stanza 3:

And then he thought: to-morrow night we trudge
Up to the trenches, and my boots are rotten.
Five miles of stodgy clay and freezing sludge,
And everything but wretchedness forgotten.
To-night he's in the pink; but soon he'll die.
And still the war goes on; he don't know why.

Meaning:

Trudge: walk slowly and with heavy steps, typically because of exhaustion or harsh conditions.

Sludge: thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid components, especially the product of an industrial or refining process.

Siegfried Sassoon