We only underwent great weariness, which goes away as fast as it comes.

The soldiers used to say that on the whole they lived in peace.
Marie would write to me, "The Piots have been saying nice things about you," or "The Trompsons' son is a second lieutenant," or "If you knew all the contrivances people have been up to, to hide their gold since it's been asked for so loudly! If you knew what ugly tales there are!" or "Everything is just the same." * * * * * * Once, when we were coming back from the lines and were entering our usual village, we did not stop there; to the great distress of the men who were worn out and yielding to the force of the knapsack.

We continued along the road through the evening with lowered heads; and one hour later we dropped off around dark buildings--mournful tokens of an unknown place--and they put us away among shadows which had new shapes.

From that time onwards, they changed the village at every relief, and we never knew what it was until we were there.

I was lodged in barns, into which one wriggled by a ladder; in spongy and steamy stables; in cellars where undisturbed draughts stirred up the moldy smells that hung there; in frail and broken hangars which seemed to brew bad weather; in sick and wounded huts; in villages remade athwart their phantoms; in trenches and in caves--a world upside down.
We received the wind and the rain in our sleep.