Brittain, Vera, Diary, 1 May 1917

00000311.jpg
Description: 
Diary of Vera Brittain

Tabs

Case Study: 
From Youth to Experience: Vera Brittain’s Work for Peace in Two World Wars
Creator: 
Brittain, Vera
Source: 
diary
Date: 
1 May 1917
Collection/Fonds: 
Contributer: 
McMaster University Libraries
Rights: 
Vera Brittain estate; McMaster University has a non-exclusive licence to publish this document.

Identifier: 
00000311
Language: 
eng
Type: 
image
Format: 
jpg
Transcript: 

Between Syracuse and Messina
Had two cables -- one to say that Victor's eyesight was hopelessly gone, the other -- one hour later -- that Geoffrey was killed in action on April 23rd. . . . .
Sat out on the rocks' edge in front of Night Quarters & suddenly something seemed to tell me to go home. Nothing much doing in Malta -- & chances of Salonika seemed further off than ever; decided to go home for Edward's sake & Victor's, & if he wishes it, to devote my life to the service of Victor, the only one (apart from Edward, who is different) left of the three men I loved. For I loved Geoffrey. . . I spent the rest of that day on the rocks, feeling all the time that I was not alone, but that Geoffrey was there & if I looked up I should see him standing beside me. . . .
His last letter to me -- dated April 20th -- arrived that evening. He told me they were going up "for a stunt" in two or three days, & said his only fear was that he should fail at the critical moment, & that he would like to do well, for the school's sake.. Often, he said he had watched the splendours of the sunset from the school-field. And then, perhaps seeing the end in sight, he turned as usual to his beloved Rupert Brooke for comfort & finished with "War knows no power. Safe shall be my going. Safe though all safety's lost, safe where men fall. And if these poor limbs die safest of all." My dear dear Geoffrey! I wonder if any future state will see the continuation of that sweet intimacy so recently begun with him.
"He leaves a white
Unbroken glory, a gathered radiance
A width, a shining peace, under the night."