She did not know the Major wrote and said That Jack was missing; she did not know the truth; She only knew the lie they'd told her son Was truer than the truth. She only knew That he was safe, and that she must be brave. And so she told the story, over and over, To all the people who came in to see, Until at last she almost came to feel That what she told was true. And all the while The clock ticked slowly in the sunny room, And the red roses in the vases smiled. This poem is a bitter critique of how families back home were fed sanitized, heroic lies about their sons' deaths. The mother clings to a fabricated story of courage and peace, while the reader understands the likely brutal, senseless reality. Sassoon, who served in the trenches, exposes the gulf between propaganda and truth.
Then the broad, sunny parlour with its flowers And quiet old furniture, and the clock That ticked so slow, seemed like a sort of dream; And all the while the Mother's heart was cold With a despair that she must never tell. She did not know the Major wrote and
Here is the full content of the poem by Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), one of the most famous war poets of World War I. "Hero" (full poem) And all the while The clock ticked slowly