This poem is about a soldier in battle. This is interesting as the writer describes the field full of clod which suggests that the battle zone is dirty and a bad environment to be fighting in.

It seems like the poem is in a war zone

The line “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air” tells us that warfare is filled with bullets going past you and your always surrounded by it.

The writer compares the soldier to a “Hand pointing that second” because he is comparing the soldier to a clock as every second counts, and only takes 1 second for a bullet to kill you.

I think this soldier is a front line soldier. The reason I know this is because people who bayonet charge would most likely be at the front line as that is where the enemies would be at where you would have to charge them at.