My mother, who was a schoolgirl and evacuee during the war,and learnt it then from her schoolteacher, taught me this poem. She doesn’t know the author, I think it’s a wonderful poem, very moving and still relevant…………………………………………………………
Per Ardua ad Astra
In no sequestered plot of hallowed ground our ashes lie,
but in the stormy seas,
from Norway to the purple Hebrides.
On tall Italian hilltops, fortress crowned
In the fair fields of Kent, the Flanders plain,
we fell to earth,
clawed from the embattled skies.
But though this unending day may die,
not all of us are dead
nor dead in vain.
Now, other eyes this ceaseless watch are keeping,
as ours, undaunted by the allied host.
No fear and no reproach our requiem mars,
Our emblem sings from coast to distant coast
“Through hardship to the stars”
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