What He Wrote

So haunting, so beautiful.

How is someone so young writing these songs!?! She is incredibly talented!

Forgive me Hera, I cannot stay. He cut out my tongue, There is nothing to save.

Love me, oh Lord. He threw me away, He laughed at my sins, in his arms I must stay.

He wrote, I'm broke. Please send for me. But I am broken too, And spoken for. Do not, tempt me.

Her skin is white And I'm light as the Sun, So holy light shines, on the things, you have done.

So I asked him, How he became this man? How did he learn, To hold fruit in his hands?

And where is the lamb that gave you your name? He had to leave though I begged him to stay.

Left me alone, when I needed the light. Fell to my knees and I wept for my life.

If he had of stayed, you might understand. If he had of stayed, you never would've taken my hand.

He wrote, I am low. Please send for me. But I am broken too, And spoken for. Do not tempt me.

And where is the lamb, that gave you your name? He had to leave, though I begged him to stay.

Begged him to stay, in my cold wooden grip. Begged him to stay, by the light of this ship.

Me fighting him, Fighting light, Fighting dawn. And the waves came, And stole him, And took him to war.

He wrote, I'm broke. Please send for me. But I am broken too, And spoken for. Do not tempt me.

Forgive me, Hera, I cannot stay. He cut out my tongue, there is nothing to save. Love me, oh Lord. He threw me away. He laughed at my sins, in his arms I must stay.

We write. That's all right. I miss his smell.

We speak, When spoken to. That suits us well. That suits us well

That suits me well.

~Lyrics copied from the "I Speak Because I Can" Album Lyrics pamphlet that came with the CD

I'm pretty sure it's "Forgive me Hera" not "here"

"Inspired by wartime love letters that Laura read in a newspaper, ‘What He Wrote’ seems to detail the forbidden love of writing to a man other than your husband — she appeals to the Greek goddess Hera, goddess of women and marriage, for forgiveness for speaking to this man when she’s “spoken for.” The whole song, just vocals and guitar, trembles in its waltz rhythm, but the most effecting line has to be the unqualified frankness of, “I miss his smell.” -NME

This song is beautiful <3

I love how her songs can have multiple meanings.

"but I'm broken too" Can be "I'm broken too", "I'm broke in two" or "I'm broke into" depending on the verse.

I think it's I'M LOW, not I'M LOVE. and also, i think t's cold wooden GRIP, not RIB.

When referring to "Hera", she is begging the Greek goddess of marriage and women for forgiveness due to the fact she can no longer stay with her husband who is at war as the song represents a wife writing a letter to a husband during World War II.

I feel like I might be reaching too far with my interpretation, but this is how I see it:\nIt\'s about a woman that didn\'t want her husband to go to war and now doesn\'t recognise him anymore. He\'s not the husband she married, but still has to be faithful to him. She\'s trying to resist to run into the arms of the man who\'s writing to her.\nThe whole song gives me the feeling that she views war as a sin, no matter what side you\'re on.\n\n"He cut out my tongue,\nThere is nothing to save.\nLove me, oh Lord. He threw me away,"\n\nShe didn\'t want her husband to go to war, but he blatantly ingnored her opinion. She feels trown away, her opinion was not important.\n\n"Her skin is white\nAnd I\'m light as the Sun,\nSo holy light shines, on the things, you have done."\n\nHer skin is white because she\'s dead, a casualty of the war.\nI\'m light as the sun, might refer to the fact that he\'s fighting to protect his wife, to protect their home. He might feel that he\'s doing the right thing for the right cause. \nThe end justifies the means, so that is the holy light that shines on the things he has done.\n\n"How did he learn,\nTo hold fruit in his hands?"\n\nThe fruit is most often interpreted as temptation, but I think that in this context it\'s just sin. How did he become a man that sins so easily? That does these horrible things in the war?\n\n"And where is the lamb that gave you your name?"\n\nA lamb can also be seen as different things, but it may mean his innocence.\nHe lost his innocence when he left.\n\n"Left me alone, when I needed the light.\nFell to my knees and I wept for my life.\nIf he had of stayed, you might understand.\nIf he had of stayed, you never would\'ve taken my hand."\n\nShe feels that if her husband had stayed, she would still have her normal life. He would still be the same man she married and she wouldn\'t be this broken.\nShe wouldn\'t have felt the need te turn to another man.\n\nIn the next alinea she emphasises again how hard she fought to keep him with her and how hurt she is that he disregarded her.\n\n"We write.\nThat\'s all right.\nI miss his smell."\n\nWriting another man is not a sin. That\'s not being unfaithful, so that all right.\nI miss his smell does indicate that she had an affair with him.\nThat is why she asks Hera for forgiveness multiple times.\n\n"He laughed at my sins, in his arms I must stay."\n\nThis line makes me think that her husband knows of the affair, but doesn\'t really care? He laughed at her sins can only mean that she doesn\'t mean as much to him as before the war. They may now be two strangers in a marriage, but he\'s still unwilling to let her go. Or divorce was just not an option in that time.

I found a poem that I think might have something to do with the meaning of this poem. waxingwaning.com/node/106

It's called Hera's boat and it's a pagan poem. Hera is a woman that has been cheated on by all her husbands and this song seems to be from the point of view of one of the women that had been with one of Hera's husbands.

It's called 'What He Wrote'

And yeah it's about the Greek Goddess Hera, but I think even that has a deeper meaning.

this is "What He Wrote"

i didn't see it on the song list and was about to submit lyrics for it so good thing i came across this lol