The Messages

“I cannot quite remember.... There were five

Dropt dead beside me in the trench—and three

Whispered their dying messages to me....”

Back from the trenches, more dead than alive,

Stone-deaf and dazed, and with a broken knee,

He hobbled slowly, muttering vacantly:

“I cannot quite remember.... There were five

Dropt dead beside me in the trench, and three

Whispered their dying messages to me....

“Their friends are waiting, wondering how they thrive—

Waiting a word in silence patiently....

But what they said, or who their friends may be

“I cannot quite remember.... There where five

Dropt dead beside me in the trench—and three

Whispered their dying messages to me....”