T.S. Eliot's poem describes a triumphal march celebrating victory in war. It provides vivid images of the parade with flags, trumpets, and weapons on display that awe citizens. However, the poet also conveys the immense human and economic costs of war through exaggerated statistics of weapons and references to the ashes of the dead under people's feet. While the citizens enjoy the spectacle, the poet suggests that war produces immense waste and death that is ignored. There is a sense of hope symbolized by light at the end, but also a question about whether people truly understand the horrors of war.