- The Life That I Have
The Life That I Have (sometimes referred to incorrectly as "Yours") is a short poem written by
Leo Marks and used as apoem code . In theSecond World War , famous poems were used toencrypt messages. This was, however, found to be insecure because enemycryptographer s were able to locate the original from published sources.Leo Marks countered this by using his own products. "The Life That I Have" was an original poem composed on Christmas Eve
1943 and was originally written by Marks in memory of his girlfriend Ruth, who had just died in a plane crash in Canada.On
24th March 1944 , the poem was issued by Marks toViolette Szabo , a French agent ofSpecial Operations Executive who was eventually captured, tortured and killed by theNazis . It was made famous by its inclusion in the1958 movie about Szabo, called "Carve Her Name with Pride ".The text of the poem reads as follows:
The life that I have Is all that I have And the life that I have Is yours
The love that I have Of the life that I have Is yours and yours and yours
A sleep I shall have A rest I shall have Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years In the long green grass Will be yours and yours and yours
Bibliography
* Marks relates his briefing of Violette Szabo prior to her first mission, and his giving the poem to her in Chapter 65 of this book.
* A small 34 page book with the text of the poem, illustrated by his wife.External references
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051454/ "Carve Her Name with Pride" Movie details] (at the Internet Movie Database)
* [http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6740&poem=29819 Words of the poem]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.