This poem criticizes high-ranking military officers who send soldiers off to war. It uses the phrase "Men who sit on chairs" as a metaphor for these officers. The poem describes how the officers send soldiers back from war "minus one or two or three or four or more," showing the human cost of their orders. It contrasts the sound sleep of the officers in their beds with the mental anguish suffered by soldiers in psychiatric wards after experiencing the horrors of war. The poem expresses the irony that while soldiers suffer physically and psychologically from war, the officers who commanded them live with a clear conscience.