DISABLED by WILFRED OWEN

“Disabled" is one of Owen's most disturbing and affecting poems. It was written while he was convalescing at Craiglockhart Hospital in
Edinburgh after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, and was revised a year later. This work was the subject of Owen's initial relationship to poet
Robert Graves. Owen wrote to his mother on October 14th, 1917, saying, "On Sat. I met Robert Graves...showed him my longish war-piece
'Disabled'...it seems Graves was mightily impressed and considers me a kind of Find!! No thanks, Captain Graves! I'll find myself in due time." A
few days later Graves expanded his critique, telling Owen it was a "damn fine poem" but said that his writing was a bit "careless". Graves's
comment may derive from the fact that there are many irregularities of stanza, meter, and rhyme in "Disabled".

In the first stanza the young soldier is depicted in a dark, isolated state as he sits in his wheelchair. Almost immediately the reader learns that
the soldier has lost his legs in a battle. Owen casts a pall over this young man with the depiction of sad voices of boys echoing throughout the
park, perhaps as they echoed on the battlefield. The voices throw him back into his memories, which is what will constitute the rest of the poem
until the last few lines. Words such as "waiting" and "sleep" reinforce the sense that this soldier's life is interminable to him now.

In the second stanza the soldier reminisces about the old days before the war. He conjures up sights and sounds of lamps and dancing girls
before he bitterly remembers that he will not get to experience a relationship with a woman now; they look at him as if he has a "queer disease".
It is not explicitly stated that the soldier, like Ernest Hemingway's Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, suffers from impotency deriving from his
war accident, but it is possible that this is also the case. The soldier feels emasculated, ignored, almost betrayed by women.
In the third stanza the recollections continue, with the soldier musing on the happy days of yore. He used to be young and handsome and an
artist wanted to draw his face. Last year he possessed youth, he says, but he no longer does - the soldier "lost his colour very far from here /
Poured it down shell-holes until veins ran dry". Another famous WWI poet, C. Day Lewis, said this line possesses "deliberate, intense
understatements – the brave man's only answer to a hell which no epic words could express" and is "more poignant and more rich with poetic
promise than anything else that has been done during this century." In the fourth stanza the boy also recalls that he was a football hero, and that
once a "blood-smear" on his leg sustained in a game was a badge of honor. This is in stark contrast to his war wounds, which are shameful. He
explains the almost casual way he decided to go to war – after a game, when he was drunk, he thought he ought to enlist. Swayed by a
compliment and a girl named Meg, his justification for going to war illustrates his youthful ignorance and naïveté is in full effect.

In the fifth stanza he says that he lied about his age to get into the military, and gave nary a thought to Germans or fear. All he thought about
was the glory and the uniforms and the salutes and the "esprit de corps". This young man could have been almost any young man from any
country involved in the war, who, possessing such youth and lack of worldly wisdom, did not think too deeply about what war really meant and
what could happen to his life. Owen is obviously sympathetic to the soldier's lack of understanding, but he is also angry about "the military
system that enabled the soldier to enlist through lying about his age". Owen is careful to balance "the immaturity of the soldier...with anger at the
view of war as glamorous, a view held by both the soldier before the war and by much of the public throughout."

In the sixth stanza a curious encounter occurs on the boy's way to war – one man who is cheering him on is "solemn" and takes the time to
inquire about his soul. It does not seem like the boy took the time to wonder too deeply about this at the time, but the encounter is a
foreshadowing of the difficulties to come.

In the seventh stanza the soldier comes back to the present, realizing the bleakness of his future. He knows that he will be in and out of
institutes and hospitals, and will have to suffer through the pity of those in power that put him in danger in the first place. What exacerbates his
situation is the continued slights from women, who look past him like he is invisible to men that are "whole". The poem ends on a sad and
mundane note as the young man wonders why "they" do not come and put him to bed. It is a reminder that he will have to have others do things
for him from now on. His days of autonomy, and, of course, glory, are clearly over. The poem is about one soldier, but what makes it so
compelling and relevant is its universal quality.

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,

The dark is a metaphor for death, Owen describes this man’s life as so useless and futile that death seems like a relief among he monotony of
life.
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Shivered adds a sense of vulnerability and weakness to the man. Ghastly suit of grey is a dark, menacing use of imagery. The colour grey is
very often used as imagery for death in literature.
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Sewn short at the elbow takes us vividly back to the aftermath of the man’s injury and portrays a cumbersome ambulance service on the front
line of World War I, as “sewn” doesn’t sound very professional or meticulous.
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
The boys’ voices remind him of what he’s lost. The word hymn adds religious connotations, Owen’s way of bringing into question the existence
of God amongst the pain and anguish of war.
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
The repetition of the ‘pl’ sound in play and pleasure adds a sense of rhythm, showing the man engaging in a sense of nostalgia for a second.
The caesura at the end of the line represents a pausing in his thoughts and brings him back down to earth.
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him
Sleep here is personified either as giving the man relief and ‘mothering’ him from his torment or taking away the pleasure he finds in nostalgia in
a cruel juxtaposition
About this time Town used to swing so gay
The capitalisation of ‘Town’ suggests that the phenomenon of naive conscription and men returning physically and mentally disfigured was
widespread in war-time Britain.
When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees
‘Budded’ creates an image of flowers, synonomous with new life. This is a metaphor for the youthfulness of the men before they went to war.
Light-blue is a soft, peaceful image which juxtaposes the use of grey in the previous stanza.
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,
The alliteration of girls glanced emphasises the excitement of flirtation that the man used to experience, making his current state even more
harrowing.
—In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Owen implies that the man was in some way responsible for his injuries. ‘Threw away’ sounds careless, which Owen links to his carelessness
and naivety when enlisting.
Now he will never feel again how slim
His former lovers, who may have motivated him to enlist, have rejected him.
Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,
The warmth of their hands imply life which contrasts the man ‘shivering in his ghastly suit of grey’ and shows the humanity he’s lost.
All of them touch him like some queer disease.
Women don’t respect his service like he thought they would but instead treat him like an unnatural, inhumane ‘queer disease’.

There was an artist silly for his face,

Implies that the man used to be very attractive. The word ‘silly’ suggests a general absurdity during this time, an atmosphere which motivated
him to enlist.
For it was younger than his youth, last year.
Now he is old; his back will never brace;
‘Now’ acts as a temporal marker taking the reader back to the present and definitively putting an end to his former happier life. Owen is
comparing the redundancy that war has led his life to become to old age.

He’s lost his colour very far from here,

The colour that he has lost is a metaphor for the life that has been ddrained from him. The imagery of colour also relates to the artist that
painted him in his youth, and now his colour is gone she is no longer “silly for his face”.
Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,
Shell-holes paints a vivid picture of the battlefield, plunging us into the action for the first time.
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,
War has taken his life and vitatily away from him

And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

The colour purple signifies energy and vigour, the verb spurted adds a sense of reaching a climax. Purple has connotations with royalty and this
use of imagery could be mocking the romanticism of war and the notion of ‘doing it for your country’.
One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg,
The sight of blood was a trophy and a symbol of masculinity, but the injuries he’s suffered are far from a trophy, instead something to be
ashamed of.
After the matches carried shoulder-high.
The extent to which he was celebrated after just a game is ironic as after the seriousness of war he’s not celibrated but instead isolated and
seen as a queer disease.
It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg,
The adrenaline, alcohol that made him enlist. It wasn’t a rational decision.

He thought he’d better join. He wonders why . . .

The short sentences show his impulsiveness and the fact he failed to think it through fully. The ellipsis illustrates how he can’t find any sound
reason with hindsight, other than vanity, that motivated him to enlist.
Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts.
Paints a romanticised and naive view of war in early-war Britain. It is this misconception that leads to many young men signing up.

That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

Please his Meg describes how women of the time encouraged their husbands or boyfriends to fight. The grammatical complexity and use of
punctuation, add a tone of turbulence which represent the man’s choking emotions.

Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,

A ‘Jilt’ is a person, especially a woman, who capriciously (describes the women as impulsive and unpredictable) rejects a lover. Giddy is almost
mocking the women, showing their ridiculousness.
He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg;
The authorities don’t ask questions, they don’t care who, the man’s youth is not a barrier.
Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.
The man was actually too young to enlist, the authorities were ‘smiling’ as they wrote down his false age, almost sadistically as they know war
won’t be what he’s imagined. Owen paints an evil picture of these authorities, gleeful in ruining yet more youth and innocence.
Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears
Naivety, he’s thought more about kilts than the opposition and dangers of war.

Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts

‘Fear’ is capitalised to personify the Germans.
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;
The imagery of idealised war shows how impressionable the man was in the face of propaganda.
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;
The repetition of the conjuncture ‘and’ makes this a synthetic list and a use of Polysyndeton , which shows his excitement for war and the extent
of his naivety and corrupted misconception.
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.
French for ‘spirit of the body’, hints at another motivation for him to enlist, he thought it would offer him the same sense of camaraderie he got
from football matches.
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.
He was cheered out to war in a wave of excitement.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

Contrasts with everyone cheering him off when he left and when he played football. Fighting for his country has diminished the respect and
attention he once received.
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits
A solemn man is tied to religion so could be a priest and is the only person there for him, ‘fruits’ could be linked to the fruits of the man’s labour
and his sacrifice.
Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.
Owen is reminding us that war hasn’t just shattered him physically but psychologically too.
Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,
A ‘few sick years’ is a very flippant use of language and illustrates the lack of meaning in his life now.
And do what things the rules consider wise,
This is a reference to the unsympathetic nature of the system. Owen continues to slate the system, it got him into this place and is not
supportive to his current state.
And take whatever pity they may dole.
Dole describes the pity being shared out, hence, objectifies it and taking away the emotion and empathy of it as a result.
To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
Men that were ‘whole’ implies he has lost his masculinity due to his injuries. The women now are revolted by him and look to the young men
who ‘dodged the bullet’ of war.

How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come

Puts the reader inside the man’s head, making his desperation more poignant.

And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

The repetition of rhetorical questions hints at an element of insanity and desperation in the man. The rhetorical questions could also be seen as
a euphemism for the man crying out to die and be relieved from the torture of his life.

1) He = Note that there is no particular name, and that the reference to “he” might be to any soldier who has fought in the war. It also gives
the idea that he is one out of many.

Waiting for dark = Apart from the idea that a disabled person, being unable to move around all day, just spends his time waiting for the day to
end is a depressing one. However, Owen tries to convey the idea that the ‘dark’ may not refer to the dark of night but also to the darkness of
death. Perhaps their lives become so meaningless that it would be better for them just to sit around and wait for the day to end, bringing them
closer to their death with every day that passes.

2) Shivered = This chill gives a feeling of loneliness, the direct opposite of how spending time with your family brings about a sense of
warmth. This also puts the patient in a very pitiful light and that, even while looking so pitiful, no one is there to help him.

The suit of grey is a reference to the scrubs that every patient wears in hospital. The word ghastly relates the image to be a ghost, as even
though the patient has survived the war, he has nothing more left to live for.

Note the adjectives to show depression such as “dark” or “grey”. It strikes a strong comparison between the first and second stanza.

3) Legless, sewn short at elbow = he has lost his legs and his lower forearm.
4) Voices= positive image. The use of voices represents the idea that these people are not alone and they have other boys to play with which
only goes to contrast his loneliness.

Sound is often the sense that Owen often appeals to aside from vision, as it is one of the senses that are bombarded during the war due to the
sound of explosions and gunfire. For soldiers, hearing positive sounds such as the sound of laughter or the sound of children playing would be a
very surreal one.

Saddening like a hymn = even though voices are a reference to positive images, the use of the word saddening contrasts this image. This brings
about the idea that despite a happy picture being portrayed, the patient is depressed to the point that he fails to see anything as happy anymore.
The word “hymn” is a reference to divinity, as mentioned by Owen in many of his works.

5) Voices of play = positive connotation.

Pleasure after day = possibly sexual/youthful connotation

Note the repetition of the word “voices” and the use of alliteration in “play” and “pleasure”. The “p” sound is used to show a contrast between the
battlefield and the homeland, where the “p” sound, despite being used for positive verbs, also is a reference to the “p” sound emitted from guns
when fired.

4th and 5th lines may be a reference to how he used to be as a child. It also showcases what he was when he had limbs.

6) Mothered = reference to youth and loved ones.

Sleep = reference to peace and serenity

The whole stanza may be a reference to what it is like in the afterlife while being miserable in reality. It is in this way that Owen tries to convey
the idea that perhaps the patient here may be already half dead.

8) Swing so gay = reference to a child on a swing → Playful

9) Light blue trees = At night, the tree looks blue. This brings about a very serene image.

Glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees → possible reference to romantic moments that the protagonist could have spent with his girlfriends.
(I can’t help but remember that scene in Avatar when Zuko was in the Earth Kingdom).

10) Girls-glanced = alliteration. The use of a “glance” give the girls a very playful image. This gives the idea that perhaps this man was very
good looking in his youth.

The air grew dim = Slow paced atmosphere

Reference to his times that he spent with girls in his youth.

11) Note the dash. The dash is used as a transition between the time when he was a child and the present. The fact that he has to pause give
the implication that he is unable to forget about his past. In fact, he would rather be immersed in it than be subject to the reality he has been out
in now.

Old = although realistically it happened a year ago, he felt that time has passed him by and that he has lost years of his life due to the war. He
has aged mentally.

Threw away his knees = As if the protagonist lost his knees intentionally; by joining the war he was already practically asking for death.

12) Now he will never feel = No hands

Again = He has done things like this before

How again how slim = Sexual/playboy connotations.

13) Girls’ waists are = sexual connotations

How warm their subtle hands = Romantic connotations. This may show that at the time, despite being a playboy, he was also very sensitive and
thus a very romantic character in his youth.

14) Instead of girls touching him sexually/romantically, they instead touch him like he has some queer disease. This is also a references to the
fact that even nurses, who are thought to treat patients kindly even treat him in such a way. Of course, this also shows the contrast between
how people treat him before he was a soldier and after he came back from the war.

16) Artist silly for his face = A artist wanted to make fun of his face that he drew it so horribly. In reality, his face was disfigured from the same
artillery shell that took away his limbs. Alternatively it could be a reference to the idea that the artist that drew his face was enchanted by his
face while drawing it halfway to the point that the artist was determined to make it look good.

17) Younger than his youth = His face was younger than his age before the war, indicating that he was very good looking.

Youth, last year = a term he used only before the war despite being only a year ago.

18) Now he is old = Reference to how the war took away his youth.

His back will never brace = he may never be able to stand up ever again. Of course, this was due to the injuries of war. This may also be a
sexual connotation as he will never be able to engage in intercourse ever again.

He has also become physically old = There are many jea;tj problem that older people have that he has and that younger people don’t have.

19) Colour = reference to youth. We say that youthful people are very colourful.

He lost his youth far away from where he is now, on the battlefield.

The lines after this take the reader back before he was removed from the battlefield.

20) Shell-holes = Blast craters from artillery

Till the veins ran dry = This is a reference to how he lost his “youthful blush” as a child. On the other hand it can also be regarded literally: that
the bomb has caused so much injury that he has lost so much blood, almost to the extent that his veins ran dry.

Blood = life. This means that he lost his past life in the war and all that came back is an empty shell. He lost his life in the bomb crater.

21) Hot race = Represents soldiers running over the top into no-man’s land. Of course, stopping would mean death, so you feel the “heat” of a
race

The heat could also be a reference to the heat of the explosions on either side of him or the perspiration as he runs through hell.

Half his lifetime lapsed = he lost half of his life mentally in the war. When he came out, he was no longer the colourful soul but a person so
traumatized by the war that he came out mentally not able to do anything anymore. Of course, it’s all metaphorical

22) This stanza is a literal one to encourage disgust in the reader. Purple blood = deoxygenated blood from your thigh. Registers a bigger
amount of disgust than if it to be red. The word “spurted” has a similar effect. The use of the deoxygenated blood also indicates the idea that not
only was he injured, but he was also very tired and his body was so exhausted to the point that it could not properly oxygenate the blood in his
body.

Thigh = reference to how he lost his leg and the fact that there was blood is a reference to its last breath, as if saying its final words.

24) In another life, the same symbol means something else. It shows the power of contextualisation and how in this case, an injury is a sign of
being heroic rather than a sign of possible death or in his case, the loss of a leg.

25) After the matches = He has played multiple matches (not mentioned what kind of matches yet). And was used to the same tradition being
done unto him multiple times.

Carried shoulder-high = the sign of the hero of the match, the most valuable player. This contrasts the idea of the war where injured soldiers
were carried off the battlefield on the shoulders of others.

26) It was after football = Owen is trying to fully engulf us back into the past by telling something very close to a story.
Drunk a peg = a peg is a type of alcoholic spirit. This meant that he was both drunk on alcohol and euphoria from after doing very well in a
football game. What this meant was that whatever came after was made on impulse and without rational thinking.

Additionally, any person would tell you that it is not wise to drink alcohol after sports. The idea that the protagonist did this gives the idea that
perhaps he was young and did not care very much for his health thinking that he was young and already healthy, thus showing that he was an
irresponsible youth.

27) At that time, with the war going on, a phrase like that was common among the youngsters and at that time saying something like that was
probably something ‘cool’ to do. Everyone already knew what you meant. Owen by using this statement helps us to get an insight of how the
war was viewed by from the point of view of the youngsters and how effective propaganda posters were.

He wonders why = he has agreed that he has made an irrational judgement but it was only until now did he realise what a mistake it was. It
could be that he felt that way then as well but his pride would not allow it.

28) Kilts = he was Irish. And the kilt is a national uniform. The fact that it was mentioned in this poem is a symbol of patriotism, and it was
something that a lot of people admired at the time. It was why he did it; people said he looked good in it.

God = In this case God is not a reference to an omnipotent being which has the power to rule over everything, rather he would look like
someone that people will think of as unstoppable and as a leader. Furthermore it would look very powerful and thus pleasing to women,
especially in many roman and greek mythologies where gods would spend their nights with countless different women. It was because of this
imagery that boosted his ego to give him the courage to sign up for the army.

29) Meg = Meg perhaps was his girlfriend or the person he was pursuing. He was thinking that although he did not know where the voice came
from, Meg had the same opinion and upon his return after winning the war he could have charmed her heart to the point that maybe they could
get married or at the very least become a couple.

30) Jilts = A woman who has rejected a man. This could be an indication that Meg has rejected him, and out of blind love and determination to
charm Meg and every girl that has rejected him before, he has decided to do this. It’s not only that he can charm the girl he wants out of true
love, but he also wishes to do this for his ego; to prove that every girl that has rejected him has made a mistake and that they were “giddy”

31) All he had to do was show his willingness to join and immediately people arranged for him to join the army. The pain of war was kept secret,
and many wanted youngsters to say yes to join the army. Many signed them up before they could refuse so as to stop them from changing their
mind.

32) They = symbol of peer pressure being used, or perhaps a bandwagon. “Hey let’s all do this together!”. This was common in many small
communities, where all the men in a particular neighbourhood would join the army in the same time, thus being able to fight the war together in
the same regiment.

Lie = many people used to lie about their age to join the army out of similar circumstances as the protagonist, either out of peer pressure or out
of patriotism to their country. Propaganda posters were used as well. Of course, the army wanted people, so if people wrote their age as a lie,
many would turn a blind eye to it.

It is in this stanza that Owen points the main out of many ways that one gets pressurised to join the army. It was not only this person but many
other people as well.

34) He did not think about the dangers of war, or why he was fighting. He had very immature thinking, saying “I will fight the war for my
country!” but did not think that he will have to kill others, nor did he think that he was going to kill the murderers of his friends.

35) Even though he knew about the war, he did not think very deeply about it and thus never really thought things true. This illustrates how
unprepared many were for the war. As Owen stated, they did not fear fear yet.

36) He did not fear to feel the concept of fear. All he thought of was jewelled hills, which is a reference to the hills of Ireland. Basically all he is
thinking of is the pride he will feel when he returns back to Ireland as a hero. It may also be a reference of him being able to travel further than
he has ever travelled to. He never truly thought of the war.

37) In this lines he does not talk about his patriotism for his country, rather he is enticed by the propaganda that he sees in posters all around
him for the war.

38) Care of arms = to take up firearms to fight for your country. In many propaganda posters this was thought as the right thing to do and the
heroic thing to do for your country
Pay arrears = Money owed to someone. In this case we are probably talking about the money paid for being a soldier in war. So not only will he
come back a hero, he will come back a rich one and is thus able to marry someone and support a family when he comes back.

Leave = His primary thought was about leaving the army as a hero rather than fighting in the war itself.

39) Espirit de corps = This is a French term for a group who would maintain their set of beliefs in the face of opposition and hardship. Once
again, this would be one of the main propaganda mottos that encourage many youngsters to join the army. It hints for young recruits, as if
personalised at him. “They wanted him be in the Espirit de corps!”

40) With drums and cheers = he was drafted like every propaganda poster promised he would be drafted; when cheers and drums. At this
moment he is living the propaganda and is completely convinced that it would always be as the poster has promised him. This deployment
scenario was addressed in Owen’s other poem, “The Send-off”

42) Some was happy that he was home, but not as much as those who cheered him off. In fact, not as much as those who cheered him when
he scored a goal in football. It gives a feeling of rejection because he was more appreciated fighting for his life than at home. It also gives the
idea that people were not wholeheartedly happy that he came back before the war ended. In his eyes, this could be an indication that he felt a
slight feeling of survivors’ guilt that he was not meant to come home.

43) A serious man brought him fruits. This could be an agent from the government. Because of his disfigurement, perhaps he was not allowed
home for other people to see what war is really like. Instead he was kept hidden, where the only person that visited him was a government
agent to keep him sane. Not even his family was allowed to visit.

44) It was only the government agent who thanked him personally, and was the only one who cared about his soul. At this point, we don’t even
know if he cared. For all we know he was trained to do this.

46) The following line is a statement. It basically is what will happen to him in the future. He is convinced of it, showing that his spirit is crushed.
Secondly it may be what government officials have told him to do, and he is meant to follow it like law.

47) Besides this, there are other rules that he has to follow. Ironically, he is fighting for peace in his country but by doing so is subject to the
laws and suppression by the government especially in his condition. He is so constricted to the laws of the governments that he is even told to
take whatever pity that the government gives him so as to not offend any of the government officials. Perhaps it is also a promise to the soldiers
that the government will support them no matter what and the fact that he is asked to take forms of pity no matter what shows a sick and twisted
version of that promise.

48) Tonight = this is a reference to how his romantic nights were in the past. It also signifies the arrival of a dark time in his life as the poem
comes to an end.

Woman’s eyes = the past Casanova that was him is still there; he looks at the features of women. This time it was just the eyes, perhaps
showing that he has become so pitiful to the point that he would rather look at someone romantically rather than at someone sexually. Perhaps
now he would rather emotional fulfillment rather than physical fulfillment.

49) The eyes pass by him to the strong men that did not receive any permanent injury. The use of the men show contrast between him and the
men who were not disabled.

Whole = In his eyes, the lack of limbs makes him not a whole person. He is weak and incomplete without them.

The women who used to lust over him lust over the other army men who did not take any damage. It shows just how much, or how badly the
war has changed him.

50) It’s cold and late it is, but nobody comes to comfort him. Nobody comes to care for him, when so many people would not too long ago.And
put him to bed = In this case, it could be a reference to “put him to rest”. In this case it could be the idea that he rather die than to live the rest of
his life in this state.

51) Why don’t they come = Why don’t any nurses come for him instead? Is it because of his figure? On the other hand it could be a reference to
his dead comrades, why doesn’t they come back and take him with them? It is another reference to survivors’ guilt. Perhaps it could be that he
has caused the death of his comrades. Why don’t they come back to him for retribution? This may also be used to indicate that the time for this
person’s death has come and that, at the end of the day, the only feelings that he have is those of coldness. The fact that nobody has come
may indicate the fact that even on his deathbed, there is no one there to care for him.