The speaker is asking someone to say something out loud before leaving for war. The poem never tells us what the words should be, which makes the request feel even more urgent. What matters is that the person speaks, and that they speak to the speaker rather than to a flag or a cause.
The third line turns the poem's central idea: "Not for honour, but me." The speaker doesn't want the soldier to fight for glory or duty. They want to be the reason he stays alive. The last line, "You'd come back," is left hanging. It could be a hope, a promise, or a quiet demand, and the poem doesn't say which. Judging by the shape of the lines, the broken spacing and the missing punctuation, the speaker seems fragile and unsure.
The mood is tender and anxious. It's a small, private voice set against the huge subject of war, and the contrast is what makes it hurt.