The poem ‘Small Pain in My Chest’ centres around the soldier boy who receives an injury at the battle and finally succumbs to the same. The motif is to deliver the poet’s anti-war message. But one thing that is generally underestimated is the narrator’s actions. In fact, the last stanza of the poem, where the poet depicts the narrator’s feelings at the death of the soldier boy, is the most important part of the poem. The narrator feels the pity of war. He is so much grieved that his pain seems greater than the physical pain of the soldier boy. Overwhelmed with sorrow, he hugged the soldier boy and forgot his actions for the moment. The poet couldn’t do better to indicate the destructive power of war. So, needless to say, it is the narrator’s actions through which the poet’s message has been brought out.