After The War

 After the War 

Every friend I had now dead,

Every man I loved departed,

Nursing now holds no more hope,

After the War.

A phantom of darkness haunts my face,

Oxford sees me as out of place,

I'm holding on to sanity

After the War.

Finding a friend in one first despised

Failing myself as I come in a second,

Yet finding joy in places unforeseen

After the War.

Feverishly working to finish my book,

Then finding none to publish my work,

Holding to hope through a woman successful

After the War.

Sending my book from one publisher to another,

Watching the success of someone starting younger,

Seeing the waste of four years drag behind me,

After the War.

Finding a job just to lose it again

Finding no hope in a world forsaken

Finding no place for an underage woman,

After the War.

Writer at heart, yet speaker to the nation,

League of Nations and Feminism as my podium,

Watching in Triumph my failures all fading.

After the War

Copyright, 2021

storyline from Vera Brittain