Smile, Smile, Smile
Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned
Yesterday's Mail; the casualties (typed small)
And (large) Vast Booty from our Latest Haul.
Also, they read of Cheap Homes, not yet planned;
The invitation to soldiers to ‘smile’ is ironic given the reality of this portrayal of wounded soldiers. 
 Owen begins, characteristically, abruptly, drawing the reader in. The descriptions ‘limp’ and ‘sunk-eyed’ are vivid and expressive. The pace of the line is slow, with elongated vowels in ‘eyed’ and ‘wounded’ to suggest exhaustion.