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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE MESSAGES by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: I CANNOT QUITE REMEMBER - THERE WERE FIVE
Last Line: "WHISPERED THEIR DYING MESSAGES TO ME...."
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I - CASUALTIES;

"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 were five
Dropt dead beside me in the trench, -- and three
Whispered their dying messages to me...."



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