LovePoems

Leo Marks - "The Life That I Have"

Leopold Samuel Marks was more commonly known as Leo Marks.

Leo Marks wrote the poem "The Life That I Have" on Christmas Eve 1943 in memory of his girl friend Ruth Hambro. Ruth Hambro had just died in an air crash in Canada.

The Life That I Have

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

Leo Marks and the Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Leo Marks joined the British Army in 1942. He was trained as a cryptographer and assigned to the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

During the Second World War, famous poems or short passages from memorable prose were used to encrypt messages.

Realizing that this method of encryption was not secure (the poems are usually in the public domain and enemy cryptographer can easily access the poem and decipher the code), Marks used poems and short passages from his own unpublished work to encrypt codes given to the special agents.

In 1944, Marks issued the poem, "The Life That I Have" as a cipher to Violette Szabó, a Special Operations Executive French Agent.

Violette Szabó

Violette Szabo was one of the 39 women secret agents that the British Army sent to Nazis occupied France to help the French Resistance Fighter (France's secret armyy) during World War 2.

Only 26 of the 39 women secret agent returned.

Violette Szabó was captured, tortured and executed by the Nazis. She was 23 years old when she was executed.

The British Government awarded Violette Szabó a George Cross posthumously.

The French Government awarded her the Croix de Guerre with Star, Médaille de la Résistance.

Violette Szabó's life story was told in a 1958 British drama film, "Carve Her Name With Pride" based on a synonymously named book by R.J.Minney (Rubeigh James Minney).

The film "Carve Her Name With Pride" included Leo Marks poem, "The Life That I Have".

The British Film Industry (BFI) commemorated the 50th anniversary of the film "Carve Her Name With Pride" by hosting a special event.

Leo Marks also wrote the book, Peeping Tom and the screenplay for the film (1960). The Internet Movie Database describes Peeping Tom as a pioneer of its time, "one of the most disturbing and psychologically complex horror films ever made".

Violette Szabó's daughter Tania Szabó, published in 2007, a book about her mother's life and work, "Young, Brave and Beautiful".

"Young, Brave and Beautiful" is the most comprehensively researched lifestory (family, marriage) and the secret service work of Violette Szabó (based on documented evidence from the British Army).

"Between Silk and Cyanide"

Leo Marks autobiography, "Between Silk and Cyanide. A Code Maker's War 1941 - 45" was originally written in the 80s.

"Between Silk and Cyanide" contradicts the official history of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) written by M.R.D Foot.

"Between Silk and Cyanide" was barred for publication by Whitehall. The book was finally published in 1998.

Leo Marks published the text of "The Life That I Have" with illustrations by his wife, Elena Gaussen Marks in 1999.