Armistice Day: Remember all the good you can

Resurrection of the Soldiers by Stanley Spencer

To Margot Heinemann by John Cornford



Heart of the heartless world,
Dear heart, the thought of you
Is the pain at my side,
The shadow that chills my view.

The wind rises in the evening,
Reminds that autumn's near.
I am afraid to lose you,
I am afraid of my fear.

On the last mile to Huesca,
The last fence for our pride,
Think so kindly, dear, that I
Sense you at my side.

And if bad luck should lay my strength
Into the shallow grave,
Remember all the good you can;
Don't forget my love.

 ARMISTICE DAY

John Cornford (the son of the poet Frances Cornford) volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigade. He died in Spain the day after his 21st birthday, in 1936. His lover Margot Heinemann lived on until 1992, a politically active teacher and writer. They were both Communists.

The artist Stanley Spencer served in the Medical Corps during the First World War. This picture is from a series he did for the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Berkshire. It is the centrepiece: The Resurrection of the Soldiers. Normally the pictures can only be seen by visiting the chapel, but they have just gone on display in London at Somerset House, and will be there for three months.

For a long time this image was used as the cover of the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, the one edited by Philip Larkin.