Lend me your arm
To replace my leg
The rats ate it for me
At Verdun
At Verdun
I ate a lot of rats
But they didn't give me back my leg
And that's why I was given the Croix de Guerre
And a wooden leg
And a wooden leg

Basic Set-Up:

This is a complete poem by Benjamin Péret, which tells of the experience of a veteran of World War I.

This poem is about the trauma experienced by a veteran of World War I. The speaker—a former soldier—refers to the battle at Verdun in France, which was one of the most famous, and bloodiest, battles of the War.

The image of the veteran's wooden leg reflects all that's he lost in the war. He's actually lost a part of his body, and, to add insult to injury, a bunch of rats ate it. And the loss of his leg in turn represents all the destruction that the war has wreaked, not only physically but emotionally.

On one level, the speaker of this poem is telling us about the actual experience of losing his leg at the battle of Verdun. On another level, his descriptions are pretty surreal: we learn that he didn't lose his leg to injury (as we'd expect), but because "the rats ate it." Ouch. Thanks for the nightmare fuel, Péret.

The speaker also tells us that he "ate a lot of rats" during the battle. We're in surreal territory here—or are we? Was the speaker actually eating rats (as many did during times of starvation) or is he evoking a freakish alternate reality?

It's impossible to tell, because nothing is more surreal than war. Up is down, left is right, and black is white in war. People eat rats, and rats eat people. The fact that this is the most coherent Surrealist poem we can think of speaks volumes about how terrifying, deranged, and utterly upsetting war is.