"The Life that I Have"

The legendary poem that has become synonymous with Violette Szabo G.C., was written by her S.O.E. instructor Leo Marks, some months before her final (and fatal) trip into France in June 1944. It was meant to be her "code" poem; lines of which were to be used in coded radio messages. When the B.B.C. transmitted cryptic messages into enemy occupied Europe, the lines of such poems would be broadcast, each line having a coded meaning for the agents. I have had many requests to include that famous and much loved poem here.

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.

The tune L'Hymne à l'amour" was made famous by Edith Piaf and although the recording that you are listening to was made just after the war ended, the words of the song are equally true of Violette Szabo and so much more poignant in the original french. The lyrics to L'hymne à l'amour are below along with images of the depair and the joy that were France in the 1940s.

Le ciel bleu sur nous peut s'effondrer Et la terre peut bien s'écrouler Peut m'importe si tu m'aimes Je me fous du monde entier Tant que l'amour inondera mes matins Tant que mon corps frémira sous tes mains Peut m'importent les problèmes Mon amour puisque tu m'aimes J'irais jusqu'au bout du monde Je me ferais teindre en blonde Si tu me le demandais J'irais décrocher la lune J'irais voler la fortune Si tu me le demandais Je renierais ma patrie Je renierais mes amis Si tu me le demandais On peut bien rire de moi Moi je ferais n'importe quoi Si tu me le demandais Si un jour la vie t'arrache à moi Si tu meures que tu sois loin de moi Peu m'importe si tu m'aimes Car moi je mourrai aussi Et nous aurons pour nous l'éternité Dans le bleu de toute l'immensité Dans le ciel plus de problèmes Mon amour crois-tu qu'on s'aime.

Paris is occupied May 1940 ...and parisians weep. Paris is liberated August 1944 ...and DeGaulle restores French pride.

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