Verses of a V.A.D.

Name: Verses of a V.A.D.
Author: Brittain, Vera

Brittain, Vera

World War, 1914-1918 -- Poetry

But this practical quality, while it has so much that makes it rich and
valuable, has also the one conspicuous disadvantage that the work is
often done under conditions of strain and turmoil that tell against
perfection of method. Some of these _Verses of a V.A.D._ were written in
almost breathless intervals of severe and devoted duty. The poem
entitled “The German Ward” is especially an example of this. In such
circumstances, it is difficult to achieve any literary ornamentation and
least of all that particular kind of simpleness which is the highest
form of finished art. In the case of several of the poems, both these
qualities have been achieved; yet, because of the difficulties, I make
an appeal for considerateness and tender sympathy in judging these first
shy flowers of the heart and mind of a young girl who has worked
unceasingly and self-forgettingly for the good of others since the days
of stress began, and who in her personal destiny has suffered as, I
hope, very few have suffered.

MARIE CONNOR LEIGHTON.

CONTENTS

                                     PAGE

AUGUST 1914                            15

ST. PANCRAS STATION, AUGUST 1915       16

TO A FALLEN IDOL                       17

TO MONSEIGNEUR                         18

THE ONLY SON                           19

PERHAPS----                            20

A MILITARY HOSPITAL                    21

LOOKING WESTWARD                       22

THEN AND NOW                           24

MAY MORNING                            25

THE TWO TRAVELLERS                     27

ROUNDEL                                28

THE SISTERS BURIED AT LEMNOS           29

IN MEMORIAM: G.R.Y.T.                  31

A PARTING WORD                         32

TO MY BROTHER                          33

SIC TRANSIT----                        34

TO THEM                                35

OXFORD REVISITED                       36

THAT WHICH REMAINETH                   37

THE GERMAN WARD                        38

THE TROOP-TRAIN                        40

TO MY WARD-SISTER                      41

TO ANOTHER SISTER                      42

“VENGEANCE IS MINE”                    43

WAR                                    44

THE LAST POST                          45

THE ASPIRANT                           46

Acknowledgments are due to the Editor of _The Oxford Magazine_, in which
“May Morning” and “The Sisters buried at Lemnos” were first published.

        AUGUST 1914

    GOD said, “Men have forgotten Me;
      The souls that sleep shall wake again,
    And blinded eyes must learn to see.”

    So since redemption comes through pain
      He smote the earth with chastening rod,
    And brought Destruction’s lurid reign;

    But where His desolation trod
      The people in their agony
    Despairing cried, “There is no God.”

    SOMERVILLE COLLEGE,
      OXFORD.

        ST. PANCRAS STATION, AUGUST 1915

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Verses of a V.A.D.

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