Verses of a V.A.D.

The verses in this small volume arise from the frontline kitchens, wards, and railway platforms where a young V.A.D. served during the Great War. Written in moments of urgency and quiet reflection, the poems carry the immediacy of lived experience rather than distant imagination. Readers hear the mix of sorrow, duty and fleeting tenderness that sustained the author through loss and relentless service.

From a solemn tribute to a fallen lieutenant to the stark description of a German ward, the collection moves between elegies and snapshots of hospital life. Interludes of faith, such as the opening meditation on August 1914, sit beside simple observations of a train departure or a May morning in Oxford. The language stays direct, the images vivid, letting the emotional weight emerge without ornamental excess.

The result is a portrait of wartime humanity that feels both intimate and universal, offering listeners a window onto the quiet heroism and raw feeling of those who tended the wounded. Its brevity invites repeated listening, each poem revealing another layer of compassion and resilience.