I SPOKE TO YOU IN WHISPERS By Neil Andrew I spoke to you in whispers As shells made the ground beneath us quake We both trembled in that crater A toxic muddy bloody lake I spoke to you and pulled your ears To try and quell your fearful eye As bullets whizzed through the raindrops And we watched the men around us die I spoke to you in stable tones A quiet tranquil voice At least I volunteered to fight You didn't get to make the choice I spoke to you of old times Perhaps you went before the plough And pulled the haycart from the meadow Far from where we're dying now I spoke to you of grooming Of when the ploughman made you shine Not the shrapnel wounds and bleeding flanks Mane filled with mud and wire and grime I spoke to you of courage As gas filled the Flanders air Watched you struggle in the mud Harness acting like a snare I spoke to you of peaceful fields Grazing beneath a setting sun Time to rest your torn and tired body Your working day is done I spoke to you of promises If from this maelstrom I survive By pen and prose and poetry I'll keep your sacrifice alive I spoke to you of legacy For when this hellish time is through All those who hauled or charged or carried Will be regarded heroes too I spoke to you in dulcet tones Your eye told me you understood As I squeezed my trigger to bring you peace The the only way I could And I spoke to you in whispers.....
