The life that I have by Leo Marks

The Life that I have poem, by Leo Marks.

Read by Shona Allen.... Available for TV, Film, Media & Voiceover work.
www.shonaallen.com

The Life That I Have (sometimes referred to as Yours) is a short poem written by Leo Marks and used as a poem code. In the Second World War, famous poems were used to encrypt messages. This was, however, found to be insecure because enemy cryptographers were able to locate the original from published sources.

Leo Marks countered this by using his own written creations. 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 24 March 1944, the poem was issued by Marks to Violette Szabo, a French agent of Special Operations Executive who was eventually captured, tortured and killed by the Nazis. It was made famous by its inclusion in the 1958 movie about Szabo, called Carve Her Name with Pride (starring Virginia McKenna), where the poem was said to be the creation of Violette's husband Etienne.

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[Shinkansen91]

Very well read - thank you for sharing :). I first heard this poem in the film "Carve her Name with Pride" ... and it made me cry then.

[theathanor]

@Shinkansen91 Thank you very much :) It was a wonderful film..

[Ursugarspice]

May I be the first to comment this was the poem read by Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky upon their marriage. Very poignant and beautiful.

[theathanor]

@Ursugarspice Thank you for your comment... it is indeed a very beautiful poem

[duchessindigo]

for Jenny