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...."

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

Media: <html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Messages</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"I cannot quite remember.... There were five</p><p class="line">Dropt dead beside me in the trench -- and three</p><p class="line">Whispered their dying messages to me...."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Back from the trenches, more dead than alive,</p><p class="line">Stone-deaf and dazed, and with a broken knee,</p><p class="line">He hobbled slowly, muttering vacantly:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"I cannot quite remember.... There were five</p><p class="line">Dropt dead beside me in the trench, and three</p><p class="line">Whispered their dying messages to me....</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"Their friends are waiting, wondering how they thrive --</p><p class="line">Waiting a word in silence patiently....</p><p class="line">But what they said, or who their friends may be</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"I cannot quite remember.... There where five</p><p class="line">Dropt dead beside me in the trench -- and three</p><p class="line">Whispered their dying messages to me...."</p></div><p class="byline">Wilfrid Wilson Gibson</p></body></html>