Gurney presents tobacco as a friend to soldiers, something sweet to smell and hold amid the hardship of the trenches. Whether men share it in a low dug-out or steal a quiet smoke on a freezing parapet while on sentry duty, it steadies them, keeping hunger and fear at bay. The mood is tender and wistful: the faint blue smoke becomes almost like incense, carrying a drowsing man away from war and back to everything his heart has been denied. In those drifting clouds he finds dear friends, hills, horses, trees, brown ploughland, and the fading gleam of sunset. Tobacco is the bane of care and the spur to memories—a small, sensuous ritual that briefly restores a lost world and offers solace amid danger.
Solace of Men — Summary
Sweet smelling, sweet to handle, fair of hue Tobacco is. The soldier everywhere Takes it as friend, its friendliness to share, Whether in fragrant wreaths it mount faint blue In dug-out low, or surreptitiously to Parapet in rimy night, from hidden lair Of sentry; staying hunger, stilling fear-- The old dreams of comfort bringing anew. For from that incense grows the stuff of dreams, And in those clouds a drowsing man may find All that was ever sweet to his starved mind, Heart long denied--dear friends, hills, horses, trees, Slopes of brown ploughland, sunset’s fading gleams ... The bane of care, the spur to memories.